Thought of the Day - August 27 2021 - Border News

As you are all aware, most Canadian restrictions concerning the US border were lifted on August 9th ( Thought of the Day - July 23 2021 - Nuttin' Borin' 'bout Borders ). The number of people entering Canada for non-essential reasons doubled in the week following this reopening; we witnessed first-hand the entourage of large cruisers steaming north up the Georgia Strait. That said, there have been surprisingly few follow-up articles commenting on how things are going. Other than a few complaints concerning the bureaucracy, excessive testing and vaccine discrimination, suffice to say the border reopening was a non-event. Really a best-case scenario.

Meanwhile, the US, who are still debating Mexican border policy and vaccination requirements for Canadian travellers, have extended their border closing until at least September 21st.

As tourism ramps up across the continent, making good on its 2020 corporate plan ( Thought of the Day - December 8 - Riding the Rails ), our own Rocky Mountaineer launched its new route within the United States earlier this month. The two-day luxury excursion between Denver in Colorado and Moab in Utah is titled 'Rockies to the Red Rocks'. Sounds like they got the timing just right.

Here in the Maritimes, travel restrictions are coming back into vogue. PEI still requires pre-application with their PEI Pass and associated checks of all vehicles coming over the bridge. Nova Scotia has now followed suit and reimplemented their online pre-application process along with vehicle checks (and associated line-ups) on the highway entries from New Brunswick ( Thought of the Day - June 24 2021 - Meanwhile in the Maritimes ).

So here we are, two weeks away from the grand reopening of the Canadian borders for travellers from around the world. As data emerges, describing the extent with which the double-vaccinated can still carry the virus, and Canada's fourth wave continues to ramp up, it will be interesting to see how regions across the country react to this fall's tourists.

Cheers

Cliff