CORY'S RANT Canada is crushing its tourism
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
193.49384
Summary
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.
Transcript
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The world, for the most part, is finally accepting COVID-19 as being endemic, which means it's just
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here for good, and they're leaving the pandemic behind them. People are working to return to
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normalcy and start to enjoy life again. One big element of that, of course, is a return to
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traveling. During the height of the pandemic, travel and tourism around the world ground to
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a halt. Countries closed borders and locked down. Even domestic travel came to a standstill as
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lockdowns banned movement, and in Canada, we even had some interprovincial border closures.
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Countless hotels, restaurants, other tourist-associated businesses have collapsed. Others have managed
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to scrape by, but they had to cut their operations to the bone and laid off most of their staff.
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Now, businesses in the tourism sector that have weathered the storm, they've been looking forward
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to a recovery in the summer of 2022. They desperately need it as they try to recover the staff they had
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and pay off the debt they incurred in the last two years. By all indications, the tourism sector
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around the world should experience a mini-boom this summer. Many people have been itching to travel,
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and they plan to get out and spend hard this year. They've been cooped up, they've missed events,
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and they've been separated from distant relations and friends for years. They're going to get out this
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year and make up for it. Canada, though, appears to be determined to keep its tourism sector
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dejected and broke. While nations around the world are rolling out the red carpet to visitors,
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Canada is making itself look as unwelcoming as possible. Canada's government refuses to accept
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the pandemic's over. We remain one of the only nations on earth with vaccination mandates
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and masking on planes and trains in the country. This cuts deeply into both domestic and international
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travel. These mandates don't just shut out the non-vaccinated. They're wreaking havoc in airports
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and border crossings as security lines are causing massive tourist delays and travel delays and misery
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for tourists. A former NHL player, gone podcaster Ryan Whitney, documented his horrific experience
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while stranded in Pearson International Airport the other day as he futilely tried to travel to Boston.
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Hours and hours of pointless lineups, crowds of stranded passengers, and cancelled flights put him
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through a weekend of hell. The video went viral, and while it's great to expose this mess, it also
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sent a message around the world, and domestically, that Canada is not a good place to travel within.
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Now, these lineups and this mess are created by vaccine mandates. Mandates cause the firings of
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thousands, leading to labor shortages throughout federally regulated sectors, including airports.
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So that's airport security, ticket people, and customs agents. With proof of vaccination being
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demanded, the processing time for travelers, flying domestically as well, is hindered, and of course
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heavily hindered when people are entering through customs. Land crossings are a little better. I traveled to
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the United States just a few weeks ago. It took me five minutes to go into the United States. It took
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me over an hour in line to get back into Canada, though, as vaccine requirements delayed customs
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agents. Canada is literally, as well on top of all this, marketing itself as a nation that's still
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keeping its citizens masked. In a paid advertisement by Parks Canada, I saw this last night when I was
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online. I was shocked. A picture depicts a couple taking a selfie alone in the middle of the mountains
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while wearing masks. This is a promotional picture. You can't make this sort of stuff up. What kind of
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image does that present? The Rocky Mountains have some of the freshest air on earth. Why the hell would
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somebody mask themselves while touring them? The message projected is that Canada remains mired in the
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pandemic of 2021, and that restrictions are still heavy. This won't draw people who are seeking to relax and
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enjoy vacations while leaving the pandemic behind. The damage is brutal, and much of it is irreversible,
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as many people have already made their travel plans and decided against visiting Canada.
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We can't start to undo this damage too soon, though. We should be reversing our damn unscientific
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mandates and letting the world know we're open for business. Instead, we're projecting an image of a
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nation where people still can't travel freely and can't even look at the mountains without a mask on.
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The freshest air on earth. The feds aren't showing any signs of backing off anytime soon either.
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Our tourism sector is going to take years to recover from this, and for no good reason,
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aside from the actions of a stubborn, vacuous man-child of a prime minister who has a chip on his shoulder.