Beginning 2021, Canada began requiring all residents and travellers to submit a negative test for Covid-19 before leaving for Canada. But from Mexico, which together with Canada and the United States forms the CUSMA trade agreement, and the Caribbean countries there are not even flights.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the new travel restrictions saying that all airlines, including Air Canada, agreed to cancel “all destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico” until April 30.
Flights from abroad will only arrive in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary. Trudeau also announced that mandatory Covid tests will be imposed at those airports. Travellers will have to wait for the results up to three days in selected and approved hotels, are also obliged to cover the cost of the stay, which is $ 2,000.
Behind Trudeau’s decision are strongly political, economic and health interests, said Alberto Calva, a financial analyst at Acus Consulting. “Canada is stopping this unnecessary movement of Canadians during the March break because it could increase the number of people both infected and quarantined upon their return to the country. But it is also striking that the restriction is not also imposed on countries like the United States. Canadians could fly to Florida, for example, where there are a significant number of cases.”
According to Calva, the government of Mexico intends to take advantage of this situation to justify its economic recession that has already been going on for several years. “Mexico is a manufacturing country and does not depend on tourism like other Caribbean countries, so this Canadian decision should not affect them as much.”
Aviation, destinations and tourists react
The Government of Mexico vows that the most recent measure announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can be withdrawn as soon as possible in order to prevent a deep economic crisis in the North American region, said Miguel Torruco Marqués, Secretary of Tourism of Mexico, in a press release.
Canada is the second country of origin of tourists to Mexico, below the United States. However, last year there was a 61.3% reduction in Canadian tourists to Mexican destinations, according to the Unit for Immigration Policy, Registration and Identity of Persons of the Ministry of the Interior of Mexico.
The prevention measures announced by the government of Canada could generate a decrease in spending of 782 million dollars, the Mexican Tourism Secretariat reported in a statement.
Aeromexico, for its part, reported that “it will temporarily suspend all its routes to Canada from the second week of February” and expects the Canadian government to reverse.
Documentary filmmaker Saul Pardillo, who travelled to Cancun to film several commercials, learned like thousands of other Canadians about the news of the suspension of flights from Mexico to Canada. “I am very upset because many of us came to work and now we will have to isolate ourselves in a hotel and cover the cost of the stay that we did not have planned,” said Pardillo.
Crisis in the Caribbean
Until May 1, Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Transat, the main Canadian airlines will not fly to Cuba either. This means a severe economic blow to the island since Canada is the main source of tourists.
We all want the spread of Covid to stop, but the prime minister’s announcement further damages the region’s already fragile companies and economies and prevents more employees from returning to work, Les Kumar-Misir, executive director of the Indian Diaspora, told North America and the Caribbean.
“Like everyone else, we are interested in stopping the spread of the pandemic, but we consider that the Canadian government’s decision has been very aggressive because the number of cases of infected in the Caribbean is relatively low compared to the numbers in other countries and regions. they have not suffered from a flight suspension,” said Kumar-Misir.
For its part, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has also asked the Trudeau government to reconsider its latest rules on suspending travel to the Caribbean.
“The policy announcement has led to a series of cancellations by Canadians who were scheduled to travel, so we have respectfully requested Transportation Minister Marc Garneau that the Canadian government reconsider this policy for the Caribbean,” said Vanessa Ledesma, CHTA Director.
But not only the Caribbean and Mexico will suffer from the impact of the travelling suspensions to Canada. About 90,000 Mexican tourists visit Canada each year, according to Destination Canada, the official national tourism promotion company.
Por Silvia Méndez
Twitter, IG, FB: @TOSilviaMendez
