With many top Toronto attractions in danger of permanent closure, a group of venues in the city, backed by the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, have joined together in the latest call for the federal government to announce a re-opening plan for Canadians.
The group says a second consecutive summer travel season is now “officially in jeopardy,” and with the long-term effects of the pandemic expected to be severe, “now is the time for immediate action.”
With the Canada Day weekend at hand – the busiest travel weekend of the summer – Canadian families are still unable to make concrete summer travel plans, the group laments, adding, “Canadian travellers, the most vaccinated people anywhere in the world, are being left out of the travel equation.”
Additionally, “Fully vaccinated foreign travellers are still unable to visit Canada, and this is leaving a devastating impact on local business. Right now, in Ontario, it is easier to travel to Brussels than it is to drive to Buffalo,” they continue.
Recent analysis from Roundtable member Destination Toronto has shown that the City of Toronto lost out on more than $8 billion in economy activity through visitor spending – growing to $14 billion for the Greater Toronto Area. In the past year alone, Toronto experienced 463 cancelled events and more than 380,000 attendees lost with every sector of the Toronto region economy impacted by pandemic-related restrictions – “but none harder than the tourism and hospitality sectors.”
The group concedes recent announcements from the federal government (including a partial re-opening of the border to fully vaccinated Canadians on July 5), go some way to answering some questions, but it says more policy changes are needed to support the travel and tourism sector recovery.
It notes that despite receiving advice from the federally appointed COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel, the federal government has yet to publish a comprehensive reopening plan for international and domestic travel, particularly around fully vaccinated foreign nationals visiting Canada.
“American tourists that are fully vaccinated are currently making decisions on where they will spend their vacations and where they will spend their dollars. Canadians are sitting at home waiting for the call from their employer waiting to hear if they have a job this summer. It’s time the federal government released its plan to reopen the border, so that our industry can plan to re-open, re-hire Ontarians, and start to rebuild our industry,” says Christopher Bloore, President & CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario.
“The Ripley’s Aquarium has been shuttered since November 2020, and has had no revenue coming in,” adds Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada GM Peter Doyle. “We are now well into the summer season, our busiest time of the year, and have no direction as to when we will be able to re-open. Toronto is one of the most vaccinated places in the world, yet the government has failed to tell Torontonians and Toronto businesses what they can look forward to as the vaccination effort continues.
“We have all been left in the dark. As a result, our business is struggling. We need to be given permission to re-open immediately and open to welcome our doors to international visitors. By prohibiting fully vaccinated travellers from entering Canada, the government is significantly disadvantaging Canadian businesses that, after 16 months of a pandemic, need a successful summer season to survive.”
Vito Curalli, Executive Director of International Sales and Industry Relations at Hilton Hotels concludes: “Canada cannot afford to be left behind as other countries around the world begin to reopen. Without corrective measures, Toronto’s vibrant tourism industry is at risk of witnessing another critical summer travel season lost to the pandemic… Fully vaccinated travellers should be afforded the same opportunities as fully vaccinated Canadians, regardless of their nationalities – and that includes being able to travel to Canada.”