You are currently viewing BREAKING: Canada removes its advisory against non-essential travel

Finally, the absurd travel shaming is over for good. This week, Flytrippers had just explained why the Canadian government should remove its advisory against all non-essential travel. That’s exactly what it did yesterday.

Here are the details.

 

The advisory to avoid non-essential travel

Since March 2020, the Canadian government recommended avoiding all non-essential travel.

To be clear, that’s all it was: A recommendation.

It didn’t stop anyone from traveling; traveling was never illegal or even against any rule whatsoever. The advisory did not affect the right to travel at all. The advisory is completely separate from travel requirements.

The travel advisory made sense in March 2020… but it had long since stopped making sense.

The only thing it did now was to show how absurd the decisions related to travel rules are: Canada had reopened its borders to foreigners from any country in the world for non-essential travel for over a month…

… but told Canadians not to go to exactly the same countries from which thousands of non-essential foreign travelers are arriving from.

There was certainly no science in this, it was obvious to those who know the travel business (and have kept some critical thinking skills). Of course, Flytrippers could have done the same as everyone else and lied to you, telling you that everything is logical and that you shouldn’t question it.

But we’d rather you know that we’re always going to be honest, even if it means upsetting some people who really think that magically, today travel is suddenly less risky or less wrong than it was yesterday just because the government says so.

 

Advisory removal

Anyway, now it’s over.

The government didn’t even announce it at all, they just removed the advisory from their website subtly.

The advisory against all non-essential travel no longer exists.

The travel advisory no longer exists (image credit: Government of Canada)

 

Gone.

But typical of the contradictions, lack of consistency, and mixed messaging… even in his press conference on the same day, where the Prime Minister introduced the travel vaccine passport (article to come, by the way), he didn’t even mention the travel advisory.

In fact, worse than that: The page that went live yesterday for the vaccine passport announcement said (and still says) to avoid non-essential travel.

Earlier in the day it was important not to travel (image credit: Government of Canada)

 

That was in the afternoon; in the evening it’s okay to take non-essential trips.

 

What this means for travelers

In any case, credit where credit is due, especially since it is a rare occurrence: The important thing is that the government has at least finally done the logical thing and removed its advisory against non-essential travel.

Kudos. And thank you.

In any case, Canadians were already well aware of the absurdity.

Recently, we hit the milestone of 100,000 air passengers in a single day in Canada. It was the first time since March 2020 that CATSA had counted that many people at airport security checkpoints.

The “revenge travel” phenomenon, to make up for all the lost travel experiences and memories, can really start in earnest in Canada. It has been going on for a very long time in Europe and even longer in the United States.

If you are ready to travel, Flytrippers will continue to be your resource for all things travel-related.

You can start by reading our ultimate guide to pandemic travel; we can humbly say that we are by far the most knowledgeable experts on what it’s like to travel right now. Factually.

Anne-Marie agrees.

Translation of a testimonial on a QC radio station’s Facebook page (image credit: Flytrippers)

 

We’ll keep sharing tips to help you.

Like saving $500 on tests like many of our readers did thanks to us when they came back from the US.

Like earning literally a million dollars like our readers have with the welcome bonuses we recommend; the sooner you start, the sooner you can get your free travel.

In short, there are already 167 countries open to Canadian travelers, including 55 that don’t even require a test to enter.

It’s definitely time to start planning your next getaway.

Flytrippers is here to make it cheaper for you.

 

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Summary

The advisory against non-essential travel that Canada had in place since March 2020 is now a thing of the past, finally.

What would you like to know about pandemic travel? Tell us in the comments below.

 

See the deals we spot: Cheap flights

Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration

Learn pro tricks: Travel tips

Discover free travel: Travel rewards

 

Featured image: Traveler (photo credit: JacksonDavid)

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Catherine Sanderson

    You guys are the best. Me and two friends are currently in Spain staying for free by the way because of you guys. Thank you very much!! I booked us all a PCR test in Spain so we can complete our ArriveCAN form online when we get on our flight home early morning October 30. Do we still need to do that? We are all double vaccinated with Pfizer (both shots) and did the rapid antigen test in Halifax before boarding our flight to Lisbon on October 14 No one checked for that by the way. What do you recommend? All the best from a big fan in NS. 😃

    1. Andrew D'Amours

      Hi Catherine, glad you are enjoying the free Marriott hotels in Spain 🙂 Did exactly that myself exactly 2 years ago, in October of 2019! Thank you for following us!

      For the return as of now, no changes to entry rules so you need to provide the pre-entry PCR test result even if you are vaccinated. We’ll hope they change this soon too!

      Enjoy España!

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