- According to Statistics Canada, over 2% of Canada’s GDP comes from the travel and tourism trade alone totaling more than $35 billion in 2018. [i]
- There are approximately 76,000 jobs within the air transportation sector; 73% of these are dependent on tourism[ii].
- According to the Meetings Means Business, the Canadian Meetings and Business Industry provides $33 billion through direct spending and provides 229,000 jobs.[iii]
- According to the Canadian Airports Council, prior to COVID, Canada’s airports employed 200,000 people, resulting in approximately $13 billion in wages and $7 billion in taxes going to various levels of government.
- minimal travel with restrictions;
- low passenger volume to allow airports and airlines to implement public health strategies;
- continued increase of passenger volume to match health strategies and other local modes of transportation;
- further increase in travel as the virus outbreak is sufficiently contained in a critical mass of major destinations worldwide as determined by health authorities; and
- when interventions are available internationally. [iv]
“When the crisis ends, aviation needs to be ready for another role—helping to restore battered economies and lift people’s spirits through the power of travel.” – Biosafety for Air Transport: A Roadmap to Air Recovery, IATAMany other countries around the world are equally dependent on tourism and air travel for their economies. Many of countries like Germany, France, Thailand and Japan, have begun to develop and implement a phased-in plan that slowly increases the number of countries that are allowed to travel to and from their countries. These plans go one step further by identifying how it is expanding their travel bubbles and when it will be completely reopen to international travel– in most cases later this summer. The vastness of Canada makes air travel a necessity and not a luxury. It is critical to the economies of so many communities and for the day to day well-being of hundreds of thousands of Canadians. It is time for government to develop and share its plan for a structured safe reopening. With ICAO, IATA and ACI located in Montreal, we are known as the leader in aviation safety. Canada needs to act like a leader and show the rest of the world how we can reopen the skies in a manner that is safe for Canadians and the rest of the travelling public. [i] https://www.statista.com/statistics/422482/contribution-of-travel-and-tourism-to-gdp-canada/ [ii]Destination Canada: Sustaining Canada’s tourism sector through COVID 19 https://www.destinationcanada.com/sites/default/files/archive/1005-Sustaining%20Canada%27s%20tourism%20sector%20through%20COVID%2019%20%28Pages%201%20-%2029%29/Sustaining%20Canada%26%23039%3Bs%20Tourism%20Sector%20Through%20COVID-19_Pages%201-29_EN_2020-04-20.pdf [iii] Meetings Mean Business https://www.meetingsmeanbusiness.ca/ [iv] International Civil Aviation Organization, Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce Take-off: Guidance for Air Travel through the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis¸ https://www.icao.int/covid/cart/Documents/CART_Report_Take-Off_Document.pdf [v] International Air Transport Association Biosafety for Air Transport: A Roadmap to Air Recovery https://www.iata.org/contentassets/5c8786230ff34e2da406c72a52030e95/roadmap-safely-restarting-aviation.pdf