End to COVID-19 travel restrictions good news for tourism industry

Kyle Hiebert is ready to buy alcohol again.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Monthly Digital Subscription

$19 $0 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*No charge for four weeks then billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Offer only available to new and qualified returning subscribers. Cancel any time.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/09/2022 (821 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kyle Hiebert is ready to buy alcohol again.

“I haven’t been able to purchase any new liquor for the last three years,” said Hiebert, the operations manager for Emerson Duty Free Shop.

Ottawa’s announcement Monday made him happy: no more COVID-19 era restrictions on travellers, regardless of citizenship, as of Saturday. No more providing proof of vaccination, or using the ArriveCAN tool, or undergoing pre- or on-arrival testing.

Come October, the requirement to wear masks on planes and trains vanishes.

“The road to recovery can finally begin,” Hiebert said.

His optimism echoed through Manitoba’s travel and tourism industry. Still, Hiebert felt cautious.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
The Emerson Duty Free Shop on Highway 75.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES

The Emerson Duty Free Shop on Highway 75.

“(I’m thinking), ‘Well, don’t jump the gun and buy everything and fill up the store with inventory right away,’ because people are still going to hesitate to travel,” Hiebert said.

Traffic is back to around 45 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, Hiebert said. Last year, the border shop had only five per cent of its regular visitation.

Bottles of alcohol have sat on shelves for years. Ownership began converting part of the building into a restaurant, complete with pizza ovens, but the new operation may never finish because of financial strain, Hiebert said.

“We’re continuously down,” he said. “Pandemic supports stopped for everybody so long ago, and we just got left behind.”

He’d like the federal government to meet with the Frontier Duty Free Association — of which he’s a board member — to discuss further recovery plans.

“We’re continuously down. Pandemic supports stopped for everybody so long ago, and we just got left behind.”–Kyle Hiebert, operations manager for Emerson Duty Free Shop

“I definitely think it’s going to take a couple years for us to get back to those 2019 traveling levels,” Hiebert said.

The rollback of restrictions is a start, he noted.

Most of Manitoba’s tourists are Canadian — many within the province — but it’s the international travellers who spend the most money, said Linda Whitfield, Travel Manitoba’s vice-president of communications.

“They are important markets to us, and the rolling back of restrictions certainly makes Canada, and Manitoba by extension, a more attractive place to visit,” Whitfield said.

In 2021, the average Canadian tourist (outside of Manitoba) spent $382 per visit to the keystone province. A typical visitor from the United States spent $468 per trip, while those from overseas spent $2,244, according to Travel Manitoba’s annual report.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
Last summer was Winnipeg Richardson International Airport’s busiest since pre-pandemic.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES

Last summer was Winnipeg Richardson International Airport’s busiest since pre-pandemic.

“We certainly heard that things like the ArriveCAN app (were) a hindrance,” Whitfield said. “We’re happy to see (the change), and we’re anxious to keep the recovery going.”

Travel Manitoba’s latest forecast predicts a return to 2019 tourism spending levels by next year.

Last summer was Winnipeg Richardson International Airport’s busiest since pre-pandemic, said Tyler MacAfee, the Winnipeg Airports Authority’s vice-president of external affairs.

He didn’t have specific numbers but said traffic was likely around 65 per cent of 2019 levels.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll continue to see that steady increase,” MacAfee said. “The changes (Monday) are certainly a positive step in that direction.”

Canada is one of the last countries to remove travel requirements following the U.S. and the U.K.

It’s time for the restrictions’ end, he said.

“The rest of the world has already gone in this direction, so I think it’s great that Canada is now back on a level playing field,” MacAfee said.

Canada is one of the last countries to remove travel requirements following the U.S. and the U.K.

Passengers should continue to wear a mask through all stages of the travel process, according to Nazeem Muhajarine, a University of Saskatchewan epidemiology professor.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents many of Canada’s flight attendants, has called on Ottawa to ensure sufficient workplace personal protective equipment is provided to staff once the mandate has been lifted.

“I’d probably wear a mask on the plane myself,” said Cal Cheney, 42.

The Winnipeg resident said he’d do so “until you’re used to not doing it anymore”. Still, he took Monday’s announcement as good news — it’s time to get on with things, he said.

Other Manitobans are more comfortable maskless.

“I think there was definitely a time when we needed stuff to keep everyone safe,” said John Wiebe, who’d gotten off a plane from Boston. “I don’t think we need the same approach (now).”

He noted he didn’t wear a mask while shoulder to shoulder with strangers at a Lumineers concert — and neither did others, he said — but he had to do so while in the airport.

“There’s a few disconnects,” he said.

— With files from the Canadian Press

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com

Report Error Submit a Tip