We’re Almost at the 75/20 Vaccination Threshold: Where’s Canada’s Reopening Plan?

June 15, 2021 ctn_admin

A month ago, Canada’s chief public health officer said health restrictions can be relaxed once Canada gets to 75% of Canadian adults with one vaccine dose and 20% with two.

We’re almost there.

According to CTV stats, 74.10% of Canadian adults have their first dose as of today (June 15), while 15.22 have two doses. The second-dose numbers are rising quickly every day, sometimes by nearly a full percentage point. With more vaccines on the way, we should easily reach the 75/20 threshold in a few days. Worst-case scenario? A week or ten days from now.

So, where’s the reopening plan? Shouldn’t we have something in the works? Shouldn’t Ottawa be standing up and telling tourism folks, okay, we’re on the threshold; here’s what we’re going to do and when we’re going to do it?

You might think so. But there’s been no indication of any kind of plan from the Trudeau government.

“The government gave us a goal, and we are almost there,” Beth Potter, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, told Canadian Travel News today. “We are still waiting to see the results – with vaccination rates almost at the 75/20 mark we are overdue to pivot to more forward-thinking policies, and talk about safely reopening the border.

“Let’s move to make efforts, based on science, to end the extreme financial crush that has flattened the tourism industry and devastated the tourism economy in Canada. We must prepare to open the border quickly and safely, and restart our tourism economy. We need urgent action so that our tourism operators and businesses have the ability to plan.”

“The lack of communication with respect to a reopening plan is disheartening for tourism workers and leaders. They feel like their job, their activity do not count for Canada, despite tourism accounting for 6.5% of GDP,” said Frederic Dimanche, Director at the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Managements at Ryerson University. “Many of them have left the industry and more hesitate to come back to work in the sector.”

Dimanche said this labour crisis presents a risk.

“It could lead to a significant step backwards in terms of quality and international reputation of the Canadian tourism product, which could take years to recover from, on top of the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, the government sustains a perception of fear in the minds of people.

“As a result, people will continue to be hesitant to return to work and to travel. Tourism leaders will have a hard time understanding the current federal government posture which is currently taking Canada’s hard earned competitiveness of the sector down…”

Speaking at a Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable press event in Ottawa on Monday, Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said Canadian tourism businesses are in “dire” shape.

“We need a plan and we need it now, and everyone needs to know what it is,” he said.

The federal government has been talking about major changes, but little has happened.

“The time for ‘soon’ is behind us,” Potter said at Monday’s event.

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