OTTAWA — The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable is expressing its disappointment with the news yesterday from the federal government that mandatory random testing is on its way back for air travellers.

As reported yesterday, the government says mandatory random COVID-19 testing will resume as of July 19,  2022 for travellers who qualify as fully vaccinated, arriving in Canada by air to the four major Canadian airports – Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto.

The Roundtable issued the following statement in response to the news …

“The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable is disappointed with the federal government’s decision to re-introduce mandatory random COVID-19 arrival testing for fully vaccinated travelers, and mandatory 10-day isolation for any person who tests positive.

“As our industry works with government, agencies and partners to combat wait times and delays, this announcement marks a step backward that unfairly targets Canada’s tourism sector and negatively impacts Canadian and international travellers.

“Medical experts have been clear; mandatory testing should be replaced by more effective ways to assess community spread, such as community wastewater testing for tracking future variants.

“The reimposition of these measures is an unnecessary and unhelpful step backward that continues to put Canada out of alignment with its international partners and singles out air travel as the only consumer activity in the country with stringent health measures.”