It’s time for our July 2021 update on the resumption of global travel. While this month has been filled with encouraging news, there has also been a few cautionary tales for travellers to pay attention to.
This week, it was announced that Canada would be letting fully vaccinated US residents enter the country on August 9, followed by fully vaccinated foreign nationals on September 7. August 9 will also mark the end of the much-maligned hotel quarantine policy.
We’ll also talk about the domestic travel situation and how each province has opened up to its fellow Canadians, as well as address the recent phenomenon of extremely high prices on hotels and car rentals as we embark on our domestic trip.
Finally, we’ll cover a concerning issue that some Canadians are facing, in that their mix-and-match vaccines may not be recognized by all other countries around the world. Is this going to be a pressing issue in the long term?
Without further ado, you can watch the video below:
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Hi Ricky, I had booked flights to Japan for October but cancelled and rebooked for April. Because for now, the vaccines protect us against variants but until at least 75% of people are fully vaccinated, the risk of a new variant that the vaccine would not protect us from is a possibility. I regularly check the evolution of vaccination on Our World in Data. I had plans to visit New-Zealand and Australia but they are way behind us on vaccination. Regarding the mix doses of vaccine, the Government of Quebec announced it will allow people who have to travel abroad to get a third dose of vaccine, maybe it is also the case in other provinces.
Just to point out – Japan has already indicated that they intend to hold off on International entry for tourism until they are able to re-start domestic tourism – which isn’t expected to happen until sometime after the Games end in September, or after the National Election in October. And that re-start still comes with caveats, including a decrease in new cases & hospitalizations, vaccinations increasing, and a country-wide Alert Level at 2 or lower: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210615/k10013085321000.html
The overall framework for re-opening was released back in December 2020, just before the virus really began to spread in Japan: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/06/national/japan-inbound-tourism-coronavirus/ – so the good news is we have a solid idea of the steps to watch for before they allow International Tourism again. The bad news is until we see Domestic Tourism begin in Japan, it can’t be said they’re likely to re-open soon, or even this year for sure.
I’m hoping for 2022, just makes that sake tour in Kyoto taste all the sweeter!