Western Standard - CORY'S RANT Canada is crushing its tourism

During the height of the Pandemic, travel and tourism around the world ground to a halt. Now, businesses in the tourism sector that have weathered the storm have been looking forward to a recovery in the summer of 2022. They desperately need it as they try to recover the staff they had and pay off the debt they incurred in the last two years.

00:00:00.000 The world, for the most part, is finally accepting COVID-19 as being endemic, which means it's just

00:00:04.720 here for good, and they're leaving the pandemic behind them. People are working to return to

00:00:09.460 normalcy and start to enjoy life again. One big element of that, of course, is a return to

00:00:14.320 traveling. During the height of the pandemic, travel and tourism around the world ground to

00:00:18.740 a halt. Countries closed borders and locked down. Even domestic travel came to a standstill as

00:00:24.440 lockdowns banned movement, and in Canada, we even had some interprovincial border closures.

00:00:29.860 Countless hotels, restaurants, other tourist-associated businesses have collapsed. Others have managed

00:00:35.600 to scrape by, but they had to cut their operations to the bone and laid off most of their staff.

00:00:41.280 Now, businesses in the tourism sector that have weathered the storm, they've been looking forward

00:00:45.180 to a recovery in the summer of 2022. They desperately need it as they try to recover the staff they had

00:00:50.700 and pay off the debt they incurred in the last two years. By all indications, the tourism sector

00:00:55.880 around the world should experience a mini-boom this summer. Many people have been itching to travel,

00:01:00.400 and they plan to get out and spend hard this year. They've been cooped up, they've missed events,

00:01:05.040 and they've been separated from distant relations and friends for years. They're going to get out this

00:01:08.800 year and make up for it. Canada, though, appears to be determined to keep its tourism sector

00:01:13.620 dejected and broke. While nations around the world are rolling out the red carpet to visitors,

00:01:18.220 Canada is making itself look as unwelcoming as possible. Canada's government refuses to accept

00:01:24.060 the pandemic's over. We remain one of the only nations on earth with vaccination mandates

00:01:28.180 and masking on planes and trains in the country. This cuts deeply into both domestic and international

00:01:33.820 travel. These mandates don't just shut out the non-vaccinated. They're wreaking havoc in airports 1.00

00:01:39.020 and border crossings as security lines are causing massive tourist delays and travel delays and misery

00:01:44.740 for tourists. A former NHL player, gone podcaster Ryan Whitney, documented his horrific experience

00:01:50.800 while stranded in Pearson International Airport the other day as he futilely tried to travel to Boston.

00:01:57.140 Hours and hours of pointless lineups, crowds of stranded passengers, and cancelled flights put him

00:02:02.180 through a weekend of hell. The video went viral, and while it's great to expose this mess, it also

00:02:06.800 sent a message around the world, and domestically, that Canada is not a good place to travel within.

00:02:12.300 Now, these lineups and this mess are created by vaccine mandates. Mandates cause the firings of

00:02:18.380 thousands, leading to labor shortages throughout federally regulated sectors, including airports.

00:02:23.900 So that's airport security, ticket people, and customs agents. With proof of vaccination being

00:02:29.860 demanded, the processing time for travelers, flying domestically as well, is hindered, and of course

00:02:35.760 heavily hindered when people are entering through customs. Land crossings are a little better. I traveled to

00:02:40.440 the United States just a few weeks ago. It took me five minutes to go into the United States. It took

00:02:44.780 me over an hour in line to get back into Canada, though, as vaccine requirements delayed customs

00:02:49.640 agents. Canada is literally, as well on top of all this, marketing itself as a nation that's still

00:02:56.240 keeping its citizens masked. In a paid advertisement by Parks Canada, I saw this last night when I was

00:03:02.020 online. I was shocked. A picture depicts a couple taking a selfie alone in the middle of the mountains

00:03:06.980 while wearing masks. This is a promotional picture. You can't make this sort of stuff up. What kind of

00:03:12.000 image does that present? The Rocky Mountains have some of the freshest air on earth. Why the hell would

00:03:16.620 somebody mask themselves while touring them? The message projected is that Canada remains mired in the

00:03:21.840 pandemic of 2021, and that restrictions are still heavy. This won't draw people who are seeking to relax and

00:03:27.780 enjoy vacations while leaving the pandemic behind. The damage is brutal, and much of it is irreversible,

00:03:33.620 as many people have already made their travel plans and decided against visiting Canada.

00:03:37.880 We can't start to undo this damage too soon, though. We should be reversing our damn unscientific 0.96

00:03:42.720 mandates and letting the world know we're open for business. Instead, we're projecting an image of a 0.98

00:03:47.720 nation where people still can't travel freely and can't even look at the mountains without a mask on.

00:03:52.960 The freshest air on earth. The feds aren't showing any signs of backing off anytime soon either.

00:03:58.580 Our tourism sector is going to take years to recover from this, and for no good reason,

00:04:02.760 aside from the actions of a stubborn, vacuous man-child of a prime minister who has a chip on his shoulder.

Western Standard - June 08, 2022

CORY'S RANT Canada is crushing its tourism

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