Canada’s retail travel industry remains “paralyzed” by federal uncertainty over border plans and vulnerable to potentially limited wage subsidy programs, says ACTA.
As such, the association says the industry must individually and collectively work to keep up the pressure on government to extend pandemic-related benefits for travel agents and give clarity to border issues that are dampening demand for consumers to book travel again.
ACTA says it intends to continue its advocacy work with the federal government on these and other fronts but says it needs the continued help of the industry to support its arguments.
Wage subsidies
This week the federal government extended the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program (CEWS) until December – a move that ACTA welcomes – but the association believes similar consideration should be given to the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program.
“ACTA has continuously stressed to the government that the travel industry will be one of the last industries to recover and thus extensions are critical for our sector,” says ACTA president Wendy Paradis.
“However,” she adds, “we are concerned about the CERB program expiring in August and a likely return to EI, because EI in its present form is not available to independent travel agents.”
ACTA is urging the government to address the fact that independent travel agents are not eligible for Employment Insurance benefits and the importance of the CERB program to this group of travel agents must continue in some form of sector specific aid, it says.
Border closures
At the same time, ACTA says the uncertainty of when the borders will open and what criteria is required to ease border restrictions is of critical concern to travel agencies and the travel industry as a whole.
Without the clear establishment of criteria, ACTA says, the uncertainty and prospect of booking travel remains a challenge for travel agencies and negatively impacts consumer confidence in travel, including contributing to ongoing demand for refunds.
Some countries have started to open up and are accepting Canadians, yet reciprocal agreements have not been extended by Canada, ACTA notes.
“We really need clarity on the criteria that will be used to modify or remove the travel advisory and border closures,” says Paradis. “Right now, the industry is somewhat paralyzed by these restrictions and while we understand that the health of Canadians is paramount, we need some indication of what the plan is from the federal government to ease restrictions.”
How you can help
ACTA is asking all travel agents to help reinforce the need for continued financial relief and the impact of COVID 19 on their business by contacting their local MP either by email or phone. ACTA has a letter template and telephone script available on its website. Telling agents’ personal stories to MPs brings a reality to what is happening in their riding, says the association.
ACTA is also asking the industry to participate in its social media campaign, sharing ACTA posts on LinkedIn and retweeting ACTA messages on Twitter, the latter in particular an important forum for its advocacy work to gather attention, ACTA says.