The airline and hospitality sector winces anew as recent border restrictions suppress

Key takeaways: 

• WestJet CEO states travel advisory will make ‘extreme disruption and mess.’
• Recent laws created to clamp down on travel amid the pandemic are another clash for airlines. 

New laws for travel again: 

Canada’s travel and hospitality sector has been gone spinning by the federal government cautioning against non-essential travels abroad due to the scary digits of COVID-19 cases.

WestJet CEO Harry Taylor railed against the advisory, indicating it will make “unnecessary disruption and chaos” forward of the vacation journey season. Source – cbc.ca

“Completely vaccinated Canadians should not be singled out for choosing to take part in a safe activity,” Taylor stated in a statement. Source – cbc.ca

“Travel prohibitions, rules and blanket advisories are destructing to the continued financial recovery of the nation and place tens of thousands of lately recalled Canadian travel and tourism jobs at risk.” Source – cbc.ca

Also read: The federal government alerts against trips abroad as Omicron spreads

He also declared the government’s sign is “not based on science and data,” adding that Canada’s trip actions fall out of step with border approaches in the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States. He is contacting the government to publicly share the COVID-19 information that reported Wednesday’s advisory.

His announcement came after a press conference in Ottawa where Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos stated the Omicron variant is currently spreading in Canadian residents and across the world, starting a new advisory shorter than two months after the elder one was raised.

Duclos stated the case became more complex at a rate he “couldn’t have imagined” a few weeks back. Source – cbc.ca

“To those who were planning to travel I say very frankly, now is not the time to journey,” he stated Wednesday. “I know this is tough for airlines, for travel agencies, for families, for individuals who haven’t been able to see each other for a long time,” Duclos said in French. Source – cbc.ca