u.s. tourists welcomed by businesses but some are wary about covid
and as the border opens to u.s. visitors by land and air, a seattle ferry company says it is being unfairly treated because it can't operate between seattle and victoria
aug 11 2021
2 minute read
we apologize, but this video has failed to load.
try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
by: susan lazaruk
a planeload of passengers — double vaccinated and each carrying a negative covid test — can fly into an expanded number of canadian airports from the u.s. starting this week, but a boatload of similarly screened passengers from seattle are being denied landing in victoria.
“we think it’s wholly unfair,” said david gudgel, ceo of the victoria clipper of seattle, which us eually ferries 250,000 passengers a year between seattle and victoria. “we were very disheartened to hear that on monday. i don’t understand how (ferries) are different from airlines.”
he said transport canada approved the sailings but the canada services border agency, acting on a “ministerial order,” denies landing for passenger ships but not recreational boaters.
gudgel also said cbsa isn’t able to say when or if the ban will be lifted and “timing is critical here” because the summer season is half over. and if the clipper doesn’t resume service before the end of the tourist season, it’s likely his company won’t be able to operate during the off-season.
cbsa didn’t return a request for comment.
canada on monday reopened its border to non-essential u.s. travellers who are fully vaccinated and have a negative test result within 72 hours of entering canada, leading to some u.s. citizens and permanent residents returning to canada for the first time since the border was closed in march 2020.
advertisement
advertisement
tourism organizations and business groups in b.c. welcomed the reopening, but some said it was too early to tell how many american visitors would return. and others worried about the potential spread of covid as washington state had been hit with a resurgence of cases caused by the delta variant, including in point roberts.
whatcom county reported 113 confirmed cases on monday, the most since it had 160 on feb. 8, according to the bellingham herald. and st. joseph hospital in bellingham reported it was treating its highest number of covid patients since june.
the reopening of the border is a “welcome change for the businesses” in white rock, said ritu khanna, executive director of the white rock chamber of commerce. “but unfortunately, we are still in the middle of the pandemic.”
she said chamber members have concerns about customers, not just those from the u.s., not respecting the businesses’ covid protocols or guidelines.
“it’s really important that everybody is vigilant,” she said.
“the u.s. is usually our no. 1 international visitors market,” said ange chew, executive director of discover surrey. “our members look forward to welcoming them back.”
“it’s too early to tell if our members will benefit from u.s. visitors,” said anita huberman, ceo of the surrey board of trade. “for the most part, they (returning visitors) are here to visit families and they’ll visit tourist attractions in vancouver. it’s really not that much of an effect in surrey.”
advertisement
advertisement
hotel bookings between august and december are “double what we saw last year in the same time period,” sabrina tey of destination vancouver said in an email.
“yes, demand has picked up,” but “we still have lots of rooms to fill. metro vancouver occupancy was about 65 per cent last week, compared to 89 per cent during this same time pre-pandemic.”
among those businesses looking forward to the return of u.s. tourists are the boathouse restaurant in white rock and white rock sea tours, according the white rock chamber of commerce.
share story
