Roundtable Responds To Return Of Random Testing

The Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable has responded to the federal government’s announcement that it was reinstating random testing for air travellers.

In a statement, the group said: “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 travellers, 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.”

It continued: “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.”

And it concluded: “The re-imposition 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.”