TORONTO – Experts disagree on whether travel is advisable given the Omicron variant, which entails restrictions at the border and new travel bans before the holiday season.
On Tuesday, the government announced travel bans for 10 countries, adding that fully vaccinated travelers arriving by air from international destinations other than the United States will need to do a PCR test on arrival and be quarantined while on the Waiting for results.
Some travelers are concerned at the confusion, and Martin Firestone, president of Travel Secure Inc. told CTV News Channel that airport confusion about the new PCR test requirement is likely to increase.
“There’s nothing for sure about how it’s going to work – will you make it there, line up with thousands of other people, get a test to take away, will you wait three days and isolate until the test? Results – incredibly confusing in every way right now, ”he said.
“I’m just seeing a lot of people making the decision to cancel their flights or cancel their trips.”
Firestone said booking an international trip for January or February might not be the best idea.
“Maybe they need to be on hold,” he said.
“I see the best chance to travel to Europe and Asia and places like this in summer 2022.”
How dangerous Omicron could be is so far unclear, which makes another question in the calculation, whether travel is advisable. Scientists are investigating the variant in hopes of finding out if it causes more severe illness, but so far cases have shown largely mild symptoms and no deaths have been associated with the variant.
However, preliminary data suggests that those who previously had COVID-19 are at a higher risk of reinfection from Omicron than other variants.
There are currently 18 cases of Omicron in Canada.
According to Richard Vanderlubbe, president of tripcentral.ca and board member of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA), not all jump to cancellations, but “new inquiries and new bookings have slowed down”.
“We were close to about 40 percent of 2019 levels,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview. “And it rose. I think people are taking a break and trying to figure out what that means. “
Many who had Christmas trips planned would likely go along and just plan in the extra requirements at the border, he said, adding that it depends on where a person is going and how important it is to them whether they travel or not about them To make journey.
“I think what is currently happening with government tests at airports is long overdue,” he said. “And we have to be able to create an environment where people are sure we are vaccinated, […] the test is available, it is not [difficult] This is convenient in terms of costs and we get the results quickly. “
Firestone believes it is easiest to travel to the US during this holiday season if a person wants to escape despite the additional restrictions.
“If you go back to the US now, if everything is done correctly, including now the new rapid one-day negative test that must be done before entering the US, it might still be plausible,” he said. adding that published health measures such as masking are yet to be followed.
“But I think this is the best choice right now, is a US vacation, possibly a vacation in the sun, even though you have to face the huge crowds that come back and get the negative PCR test. So it’s not easy anymore, and I hope that we will have a little vacation and then travel at some point [can] to open again.”
SHOULD I HAVE INSURANCE WHEN I TRAVEL?
Travelers worried about insurance should keep a few things in mind, Vanderlubbe said.
For one, travel health insurances have generally covered medical claims related to COVID-19 since the blanket non-essential travel warning was lifted in October, he explained.
“There was a time when the advice came out that the insurance plans generally didn’t cover this,” he said. “And you had to take out separate insurance.”
When it comes to cancellation insurance, after some efforts at the start of the pandemic to get airlines to refund when flights were canceled by the airline itself, airlines are now generally covering any type of involuntary cancellation where the airline decides to cancel the flight not to be carried out.
“Consumers are now not at great risk if they book something and then the government comes and, let’s say, a restriction in the future for a certain destination and they cancel all flights – you will not lose your money,” said Vanderlubbe.
There remains the voluntary cancellation, in which a person decides for themselves that they no longer want to fly.
“I look at the arrangements and look at these things and maybe I get cold feet and I don’t really want to travel,” he explained.
With the landscape currently changing, a traveler who is concerned that they might want to disembark later – for fear of COVID-19, sick before the flight itself, or due to other unforeseen complications – may need a waiver or some other type of insurance that help them if they want to voluntarily cancel a flight.
“If you change your mind, you will at least not lose all of your money, but can transfer it as credit,” said Vanderlubbe.
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