Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
Jasper is likely to get a little tourism boost as the federal government announced the easing of border measures for fully vaccinated travellers.
Beginning Aug. 9, Canada will allow entry to American citizens and permanent residents who are currently living in the United States without them having to quarantine.
The border will fully reopen to all fully vaccinated travellers on Sept. 7.
James Jackson, president and CEO of Tourism Jasper, described the announcement as 鈥渇antastic news.鈥�
鈥淭he U.S. is obviously a very important market to the entire Jasper visitor economy, so yeah, we鈥檙e really looking forward to that,鈥� Jackson said.
鈥淎nd then obviously on seventh of September, having the rest of the world able to visit Canada really opens up our other core markets, which we are really thankful for.鈥�
The federal government says it adjusted border measures in light of rising vaccination rates and declining COVID-19 cases.
Jackson predicted that Jasper would get a modest bump in tourism, rather than a sudden surge of international visitors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to be like the flood gates opening. It won鈥檛 quite be that way, because the entire country of Canada will be marketing to them, although I do think there鈥檒l be solid demand from the Americans.鈥�
Many tourists from the United States will come either via train, specifically VIA Rail and the Rocky Mountaineer, or other modes of ground transportation.
鈥淚 think we鈥檒l see pretty solid demand, but it won鈥檛 be unmanageable,鈥� Jackson said.
In addition, international flights carrying passengers will be permitted to land at five additional Canadian airports effective Aug. 9.
This includes the Edmonton International Airport (EIA).
Jackson said this boded well for local tourism, noting that he had been having meetings with the airport.
鈥淲e work very closely with them on almost all international and transborder routes, so we鈥檙e really looking forward to having that gateway open,鈥� he added.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a significant step forward for Jasper, for sure, to have EIA accepting transborder passengers.鈥�
Proof of vaccination required for travel
All travellers will need to be fully vaccinated with a Government of Canada-accepted vaccine at least 14 days prior to entering Canada and meet specific entry requirements.
Children under 12, who can鈥檛 get the vaccine, will be exempt from quarantine.
Travellers will need to provide proof of vaccination and submit their travel information through the government鈥檚 ArriveCAN portal.
All travellers, regardless of vaccination status, will still require a pre-entry COVID-19 molecular test result, but they won鈥檛 require a post-arrival test unless randomly selected.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really of the opinion that the federal government will handle (the details) and the people who do arrive in Jasper eventually will be COVID free, will be healthy and we are just looking forward to welcoming them,鈥� Jackson said.
Summer season slowly picking up
This summer, tourism began somewhat slower than anticipated, but Jackson attributed that to 鈥渢he calm before the storm.鈥�
A big catalyst was Stage 3 of Alberta鈥檚 Open for Summer plan.
鈥淚 think people in Alberta generally knew that Stage 3 was going to happen in and around Canada Day, maybe shortly thereafter, and obviously that came to fruition,鈥� he said.
鈥淎s much it鈥檚 hotly debated, I think the Stampede played a role as well in sort of a catalyst to travel just in general.鈥�
According to Jackson, occupancy has steadily risen over the past few weeks with a 鈥減alpable increase鈥� in visitation due to the opening of Whistlers Campground.
鈥淲e鈥檙e happy about that, and we鈥檙e just trying to ensure everybody manages the volume accordingly,鈥� he added.
