A prominent travel agent in this country is suggesting that once all Canadians who want to be vaccinated are, that Canada should donate its unused vaccines to places that Canadians travel, such as Caribbean islands and Mexico.

Citing data from a survey of close to 6,000 past customers conducted at the end of February, Hamilton, Ont.-based Tripcentral.ca president Richard Vanderlubbe says a quarter of them indicate they are concerned about vaccination rates in the places that they would travel.

The only higher concern is being vaccinated themselves (45%), prompting Vanderlubbe to suggest that after most Canadians receive their shots – expected to by September according to government forecasts – that excess vaccines could be donated elsewhere, which could have the additional benefit of spurring travel to those places.

“Concern about vaccination at destinations would indicate that even if Canada is mostly vaccinated by fall, demand for travel will still not fully recover” says Vanderlubbe. “Canada has purchased far more vaccine than will be needed, and eventually we will donate it to other countries.”

And it makes sense, he adds, that the government consider doing so to countries where Canadians travel, such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, parts of Mexico, Jamaica, and other Caribbean islands.

“Giving back to countries that Canadians visit most and reducing the risk of Canadians returning home carrying variants from unvaccinated destinations is a win-win all around,” he states.

Other trends from the Tripcentral survey, which aimed to understand the relationship between vaccination levels and future demand to book travel, included:

• 80% of respondents who want to be vaccinated expect to be vaccinated by September, indicating belief in the government vaccine rollout plan despite a slow start.

• For those expecting to be vaccinated by September, not yet being vaccinated themselves is the number one concern for 45% of the respondents, followed by the quarantine on return chosen as the first concern by 30%.

• Just under 18% indicated that they were not interested in being vaccinated.

• Of those not interested in being vaccinated, 61% indicated they would go away now if it were not for travel restrictions.

• 68% of those not interested in being vaccinated ranked the quarantine on return being the No. 1 concern about booking travel.