As Canada’s borders are set to reopen to American’s on Aug. 9, it could mean good news for the local tourism industry.
Earlier this week, the Canadian government announced it will reopen the borders to fully vaccinated American tourists on Aug. 9 and other international travellers Sept. 7.
Travellers will need to be fully vaccinated with one of four vaccines approved by Health Canada at least 14 days before arrival in Canada, and will be required to provide proof of a COVID-19 test prior to entry.
Those who are not fully vaccinated, or immunized with a vaccine that is not approved by Health Canada will still be subject to things like quarantines and COVID-19 tests.
“I think it is exciting for Tourism Prince George that the boarder is reopening and I think that the tourism industry has just been hit so hard by COVId-19 that it’s a little bit of a sigh of relief to see some of the restrictions being lifted,” said Tourism PG CEO, Colin Carson.
He added that not many local tourism businesses rely solely on international travelers, but the region typically sees a lot of American’s tourists passing through on their way to Alaska.
“We weren’t sure if we were going to see a whole bunch of American travelers this year, because typically they are going to Alaska where a lot of them like to be up there for the solstice so they can see the 24 hours of sunlight, so we weren’t sure if we were going to get a huge bump in August,” explained Carson.
“But I was talking with a few hoteliers and as soon as the announcement of the restrictions came out – the Bon Voyage Motel west of town – had 10 inquires in the first day from American parties, so it was one of those things where we weren’t expecting, but it may be busier than we thought.”
Carson added that Tourism PG keeps track of data from American visitors, based on how many stop in at the visitor’s centre per month and in a typical year, about 400 American parties stop through the visitor’s centre in August.
Canada’s borders have been closed to non-essential travel since March 2020 and it has taken a heavy toll on the hospitality and tourism industry on B.C.
However, Carson credits efforts like Support PG for helping the tourism industry through the pandemic by encouraging local support of the industry.
“I think that was really important for a lot of the accommodations and other tourism businesses because they were able to say ‘check out a hotel if you haven’t in Prince George’ and a lot of people were doing the staycation thing and trying out those experiences they don’t normally do because they live here.”
The Prince George Regional Airport (YXS) is also welcoming the easing of restrictions as sign of good things to come.
Even before the announcement, passenger numbers at YXS were up significantly in comparison to the second quarter of 2020, however, passenger numbers are still down 54 per cent year to date.
“We are optimistic with the rise in passenger numbers and further easing of restrictions including the opening of the Canada - US border,” said Prince George Airport Authority president and CEO, Gordon Duke.
“We are hopeful that the opening of the border will further increase passenger numbers as travelers start to take their long-awaited vacations. A tremendous amount of work has gone into ensuring that safety measures are in place to protect passengers and we are looking forward to more travel opportunities.”
The airport saw 7,427 passengers in April, 8,124 passengers in May, and 12,870 passengers in June. However, June 2021 saw the most monthly passengers since March 2020.
In terms of air service, the Prince George Airport is seeing growth with Flair starting back up and expanded schedules from both Central Mountain Air and Pacific Coastal and the organization says there is more to come in the third quarter of the year.
Travellers coming to Canada, even fully vaccinated ones, will still have to submit a quarantine plan, and be prepared to quarantine, in the event they do not meet all the conditions for entry.
There will also be a new border testing surveillance program at airports and land border crossings in which fully vaccinated travellers may need to have post-arrival tests, if they are randomly selected.
- with files from the Canadian Press
