The push to end to COVID tests for fully-vaccinated travellers

The travel industry is continuing to push the federal government to drop the requirement for a negative COVID-19 test to enter Canada for those who are fully vaccinated, and while there are rumblings a change may be coming, the timing is still up in the air.

After laying off the majority of its staff on both sides of the border, next month the Clipper will again operate between Victoria and Seattle. Starting April 15, service begins slowly with plans to ramp up when demand increases.

For that to happen, David Gudgel, CEO of Clipper Vacations, is hoping for federal measures to be relaxed.

"We're still concerned about the testing requirements even though that's been downgraded from a PCR requirement to an antigen test within 24 hours, but that's still a barrier to travel," he told CTV News.

Allison Wallace with Flight Centre said discussions are happening behind the scenes along with a public push from the travel industry to drop the antigen test requirement because so many people are vaccinated.

"There are talks going on," she said, adding, "The travel industry is pushing hard for that now that the vaccination rates are high and there are rumours it could be April 1 or June 1, but as we know, we don't know until it happens," Wallace said.

She added it's unclear if "fully vaccinated" would mean someone with two or three doses, pointing out different countries have different entry requirements.

Wallace said it would be devastating to have another summer season halted by COVID-19. So far, demand is up for both spring break and summer vacation. Still, she cautions while the rules remain that you need an antigen test administered or approved by a health worker within 24 hours of your flight, that means demand could also be up in popular destinations.

"What a lot of people has assumed is it means they're available everywhere, I can pick them up at the pharmacy. But that's not the case. They still have to be approved by a health person or supervised," said Wallace.