Tour operators want Ottawa to consider switching requirement to rapid tests for returning Canadian travellers
With the U.S. border reopening for non-essential travel from Canada early next month, tour operators are trying to find a way to navigate the remaining requirement for a PCR test before returning home. An industry group is calling on the federal government to consider allowing rapid tests as an alternative.
It’s something Teresa Marshall, of Surrey-based Pitmar Tours, thinks could help.
For years, the company she co-owns has helped people kick off the Christmas season in Washington State, with visits to the Bavarian-style village of Leavenworth.
“We do a horse-drawn sleigh ride and the lighting festival,” she said. “Around five o’clock, all the lights in Leavenworth light up all at once.”
Marshall said most of the travellers who come on the tour are seniors, and many have been regulars.
“To see their faces light up, it just warms you,” she said.
While the tour company had to skip its 2020 visit due to the pandemic, it began touring again this June, and is hoping to bring back the holiday season tradition with a visit across the border in December.
“Everyone on the bus will be fully vaccinated,” Marshall said. “If not twice, three times.”
She added the company also has a mask policy, and incorporates distancing and regular disinfection.
However, even with the border reopening to non-essential travel in early November, there is still uncertainty. Marshall is trying to figure out how she can get everyone on their tour bus a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) COVID-19 test during their visit.
A negative result is required within 72 hours of returning to Canada. People visiting the states for less than three days can conduct their pre-entry test in Canada before they leave the country. For the four-day trip Pitmar Tours has planned, the test will have to be done in the states.
“If it was a three-day tour, 72 hours, we could have had testing before we go and come back, which makes absolutely no sense,” she said. “Within 72 hours, that’s three days where you could still get (the virus), versus a rapid test.”
Brett Walker, chair of the Canadian Association of Tour Operators, said other countries have adopted the rapid or antigen test, which is “much more accessible” and “far less prohibitive.”
“We’re asking the government to at least think about, or offer that as an option,” he said. “Give Canadians – returning Canadians – the option of the antigen test, with a PCR test possibly here in Canada where they could quarantine at home.”
Walker said CATO would also like to see Canada change its current stance on not recommending non-essential travel, and continue wage and rent supports.
“We need to somehow bridge the gap between the now and when there will be any meaningful return to travel, which will probably be first, second quarter of next year,” he said.
When Pitmar Tours started travelling again in the summer, they also began requiring full vaccination, which Marshall says led to online and verbal attacks.
“I got horrible horrible threats,” she said. “They phoned and they would tell me I was a Nazi and I was out of my mind and they were going to sue me.”
The offensive backlash followed more than a year of not being able to travel, which also saw Pitmar refund over $60,000 for a planned trip to Palm Springs in spring 2020. Marshall said the critics even left negative online reviews for their company on Google, despite not being among their customers. She was able to contact the internet company to get the reviews removed.
Now, she’s just hoping to make the Leavenworth trip happen. Marshall has until mid-November to let the pre-booked hotels know whether the December trip will go ahead.
“It’s half full now, and everyone else is just waiting to see what the border restrictions are going to be,” she said. “It would mean a lot to get this trip going.”
Financially, she says it would help tide them over until the spring.
Christmas is also Marshall’s favourite time of year, and the trip gives her a chance to reconnect with a travel group she considers “part of the Pitmar family.”
“I sure hope we can do it this year for people,” she said. “They need a break.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
What Canadians think of the latest Liberal budget
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
Teacher shortages see some Ontario high school students awarded perfect grades on midterm exams
Students at a high school in York Region have been awarded perfect marks on their midterm exams in three subjects – not because of their academic performances however, but because they had no teacher.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.
Her fiance has been in prison for 49 years. She's trying to free him before it's too late
Christine Roess is a retired consultant. Ezra Bozeman has spent the last 49 years in prison, serving a life sentence for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Against the odds, the two fell in love.