Travel agencies have seen a drop in bookings since the introduction of the Omicron variant. After seeing the Trudeau government advise against travel abroad, tour operators, who do not understand this decision, anticipate a wave of cancellations as the peak winter season begins.
A bad surprise could await travelers who no longer wish to leave, but who have not taken out cancellation insurance or other options allowing them to postpone their departure date when buying their ball. Since Ottawa is issuing a warning rather than decreeing a ban, they will not be able to get a refund.
“Either they go on a trip or they lose their money,” says Moscow Côté, president of the Association of Travel Agents of Quebec and also general manager of Voyages Constellation. In the context, a traveler cannot say that he did not know it. ”
At this time of year, all-inclusive packages to sun destinations are particularly popular with consumers.
By advising against non-essential foreign travel, Ottawa is simply “offloading” its obligations to Canadians who decide to move, says Côté.
The Trudeau government lifted its official notice to avoid foreign travel, released at the start of the pandemic on October 21. At a press conference on Wednesday, the Federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, warned that there could be other tightening. The situation will be reassessed in four weeks.
Mr. Côté does not understand why we ask Canadians having two doses of vaccine not to leave the country while we continue to welcome, for example, travelers from France or the United Kingdom, where cases of infection are on the rise.
“If you want to slow down the variant, we forbid the others to come,” he says. There is no control over movement between the provinces. Anyone can go and do whatever they want in Toronto right now. ”
At the start of December, the reservation rate in the industry was around 40% of what it was before the pandemic. It has fallen to about 10%, according to the president of the Association.
Hard on morale
Cancellations are expected to accelerate, according to Côté. This is a big blow to travel agents, who are paid when the stay is made, not when the sale is made.
We are therefore not paid for work done in the past few weeks. For many, it is demoralizing.
Moscow Côté, President of the Association of Travel Agents of Quebec and General Manager of Voyages Constellation
Justin Bordeleau, co-owner and vice-president of Voyages Arc-en-ciel, which operates three branches in the Trois-Rivières region, agrees. He anticipates a marked slowdown in sales for the months of January, February and March.
The possibility of further restrictions also adds “a layer of insecurity”.
“This will bring its share of cancellations,” says Mr. Bordeleau. Rather than making sales between January and March, we are going to go through a period where we will be doing customer service to manage cancellations and postponements. ”
Sign of the concerns caused by the Omicron variant, the Performa Travel agency, located in Boucherville, in the southern suburbs of Montreal, records about five reservations per week, reports its owner Éric Boissonneault.
A few weeks ago, there were nearly twenty daily, he adds.
So far, Ottawa has only compiled a list of 10 African countries from which Canada refuses to receive foreign travelers. Mr. Duclos has not closed the door to an expansion of this list.