Originally Posted by
kevincure
Depends where. The entire Churchill bear season is dead as a doornail. There is effectively zero tourism in the territories this year, domestic or otherwise, because of restrictions. Anywhere reliant on cruise traffic is dead. Both Victoria (on Canada Day!) and Quebec City in August were very quiet, and Toronto has certainly not had much domestic tourism. There has been big domestic demand for nature destinations (Muskokas, Gaspe, Banff) but even there you see big hotel discounts that frankly never would happen in summer otherwise.
It drives me crazy that the government isn't just putting into place border tests in lieu on quarantine, as in Germany (among many other places). It's not like Canada is New Zealand - the daily Covid rates here are something like 60% of the US right now, and lower than, e.g., much of the Caribbean. If you passed a test on arrival, you are less likely to have Covid than the average Canadian on the street. I should mention that there is a lot of debate about this at high levels - I am involved in policy discussions basically at the top (though I am external to government) and even I have no idea what the government hold-up is here. There are certainly politics involved, that's for sure.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. I don't really get why there is no discussion (or, based on your comment, actual push for) of how to implement test on arrival as an alternative to quarantine.
Couple other data points. I was speaking to somebody in tourism in Banff. As I noted above, visitor traffic is about 85% of normal, but apparently spending was about 50% of normal, that is a pretty significant drop.
Final note: we have done/are doing 3 trips recently, and every property we have visited domestically (or will visit) for 3 months has been totally sold out: Waterton, Jasper, and Tofino. And none of those are at discounted rates. So I think your observations, while true, need some context. Toronto doesn't have any domestic tourism because restaurants and bars haven't been open for dine in for 3 of the last 6 months. And Churchill isn't big enough to move any needle.
So my question for you: is the absence of test on arrival a strategy to make sure Canadians spend their money at home rather than abroad? Because at this point I seriously wonder if it wouldn't cost more lost revenue (we certainly would have travelled abroad if it wasn't for the 2 week quarantine on arrival back home) that it would gain. Meaning we wouldn't see much foreign tourism anyway? Who knows, I am just speculating because I honestly don't get what the logic might be to not do it like Germany.