COVID-19 travel measures could be around long-term: expert

CALGARY – As international travel starts to open up, prepping for a trip is going to be a much different ballgame.

Travellers now need to worry about vaccine passports, negative COVID-19 tests, and facemasks when crossing borders or boarding flights.

Nikola Berube with AMA Travel says everything is still a work in progress.

“Right now, the Canadian government is using the ArriveCan app for people that are going internationally, in and out of Canada at the moment. But as we’ve all heard on the news lately, that’s going to change moving forward, with the federal government, bringing out a different system,” she said.

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She points out that even if you’re double vaccinated, you still need to get a COVID-19 test to fly into most countries accepting travellers.

And, she expects many of these new rules will be in place for a long time.

“There have always been rules for traveling the past, we saw that happen after 9/11, things changed in the way of the travel industry then. This feels like something similar to that or these are going to be likely in place for long periods of time is not long term.”

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And with travel plans sometimes changing at a moment’s notice, Berube says it’s a good idea to do the math and figure out if travel insurance makes sense for you.