The results of a new study show that Canadians’ comfort level with reopening the U.S. border has dramatically shifted just this month.
In March, one year after the onset of COVID-19, a Leger poll indicated only 26 per cent of Canadians were okay with cross-border travel.
By May, well into Canada’s ‘third wave’ of the pandemic, that had dropped further, with another Leger poll revealing only 24 per cent of Canadians were comfortable with cross-border travel with the U.S.
An Angus Reid poll published 01JUN reflected a similar sentiment, with only 23 per cent of Canadians wanting the border opened.
But a new, 09JUN survey, conducted by the Travel Health Association Of Canada, flips the narrative of Canadians as reluctant travellers.
Now, the survey says 40 per cent of Canadians believe the government should remove travel advisories to the United States and reopen the border to make travel to America easier.
All surveys must be taken with a grain of salt, especially when they are done by stakeholder organizations rather than neutral pollsters. Nonetheless, these numbers are dramatic – and noteworthy.
The survey also showed that the United States is the top travel destination for Canadians when restrictions are eased. Canadians' desire to travel to the U.S. had been declining in recent years, but the survey findings reveal that the U.S. is currently the most popular first travel destination, with 37 per cent of Canadians indicating that the U.S. is the first place they plan to travel outside of Canada.
That could be due to two factors.
The survey found that 46 per cent of respondents’ preferred to make their first trips by car rather than air. In addition, 47 per cent attributed their interest in travelling to the U.S. to the success of the American vaccine rollout. In fact, 33 per cent of respondents said they were more likely to travel to the U.S. after the pandemic, than before.
That makes the border reopening increasingly important to Canadians making post-pandemic travel plans.
Not surprisingly, THIA is calling for the border to be reopened. "This has been the longest border closure in history, with a level three travel advisory that has been in place for more than a year. It's time to put a safe border-reopening plan into action and view international vaccination requirements for travel as a way of overcoming vaccine-hesitancy," says Will McAleer, THIA's Executive Director and spokesperson.
