Air Canada hires influencers to promote vacation travel
 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...cation-travel/

Wow. Just ... wow.

Air Canada has done some pretty stupid things in the past, but the optics on this simply defy words. The scary thing is, whoever approved this little scheme probably got a bonus for it.

Seems ill conceived and a little tone deaf. Perhaps they will suffer the same PR fate as other very public travelers in the news.

Well its not like Westjet hasn't had their influencers chiming in lately... All I can do is shake my head. "what were they thinking comes to mind".

Is this really any different than them continuing to buy ads on TV, Internet, etc, and sending out marketing e-mails to their customer base? Influencers are just another advertising channel.

Not really, at least to me, and some of these decisions were likely made long before the recent ruckus of high profile holidayers and the imposition of the negative PCR test as the article doesn't say the contracts were signed today so the online campaigns could've been set in motion weeks or months ago.

The quote in the OP also includes domestic travel so it could be that as it did last Summer, ACV pivots to promotes travel within the country if not abroad.

The whole conversation seems a bit cynical.

Isn't it also tone deaf that RBC didn't take down this site? https://www.rbcrewards.com/#/travel

Forget about flights... it mentions cruises.

I'm finding it very hard to stay real. Are all the covid deaths due to travel? Or even a majority? Or even a minority? I was at a Costco today, with government-mandated lineups, *WOW*. Where is this meme coming from that travel is killing people. Maybe I don't see the picture because my travel has traditionally been "go to new country, walk for week+ in the woods". Other people travel and stay close together, I get it, and if this is major covid spread why is that not reflected in the incoming rapid test studies?

Maybe I'm being too sensitive to the word "essential" meaning different things to different people -- the governments appear to be trying real hard to say "business travel only".
Maybe that will 100% kill the travel sector immediately.

There is a mixture of fact and fear, and I'm coming to the conclusion that most people 60+ will never visit another country again.

It's like keeping the bars and restaurants to stay open and then telling and expecting people to stay at home.

The messaging is all over the place, so I don't blame Air Canada for at least trying to stimulate revenue.

The government doesn't want to bail out Air Canada with public money, so it can't shut down the airline or restrict travel too much.

Also, the government does advise on how to "have a safe holiday": https://www.canada.ca/en/public-heal...lebration.html

I mean, the logic used for Costco is that people still have to buy groceries and socks and tires, but they don't *need* to go get drunk in Cancun.

I can't pretend objectivity here, since COVID has essentially made my profession illegal, but I am unable to wrap my head around the part where every government agency - even Florida - agreed from day one that cruises were a completely unacceptable risk, but airlines can keep selling holidays to all-inclusives, which are essentially cruise ships that don't move.

I understand that AC has to do its best to stay solvent, and I recognize that part of that is them trying to convince people that travel is safe, but I don't understand how ACV are allowed to operate at all, if cruise lines and gyms and concert halls and restaurants can't.

I'm willing to cut RBC some slack on that, since there's a big difference between not amending an existing entity and going forth to consciously launch a new initiative. Someone at AC just isn't using their best judgement right now.

1.8% of cases are due to travel.... so relate that to % of deaths...
I wouldbe willing to bet that exposure at bigbox stores accounts for more.

People also don't *need* to do a sales call in person - yet all they have to do is declare themselves "essential" to their business and skip the quarantine.


The AC marketing department has a job to do. Their boss is telling them to do their jobs who is pressured by their boss. They gotta do something. Cant really blame the frontline marketing people who came up with this idea.

Could you provide some context to that and perhaps a source?

Good for Air Canada. I support them for this. Can't stay locked down forever in the name of 'safety'. If you are scared of life, stay home. Meanwhile, let us travel how we please.

Health Canada
https://health-infobase.canada.ca/co...-cases.html#a6

And even if you add "contact with a traveller" - you are only up to 2.8%

Even in the sealed off provinces (NL/NB) - travel is <20% of all cases