My name is Lynnette Bain, and I am the vice-president of destination development with Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island. We are the official destination marketing organization for the regional tourism industry.
As a not-for-profit organization, we are dedicated to promoting and selling Windsor, Essex and Pelee Island as a remarkable destination for tourists, convention-goers and business travellers. I'd like to thank the standing committee for inviting me today to share insights on the ArriveCAN app. What you will hear from me is not that different from what my colleagues said, but it does need to be heard again.
During the initial phases of the pandemic, the federal government launched the mobile app, which streamlined the process for travellers to submit information regarding their arrival in Canada, alongside their quarantine plan. The application was useful in allowing all traveller information to be processed quickly and transmitted to the relevant government agencies, which was essential for travel during a pandemic.
Now, at this time, with the pandemic moving towards an endemic; with 82% of the total Canadian population being fully vaccinated; with hospitalization rates being greatly reduced over the past few months; and with so many protocol measures having been removed at the provincial levels, this is the time to look at removing the ArriveCAN app at the border as well.
In this case, we are in agreement with the provincial body, TIAO, the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, on removing these barriers to travel.
While the app did serve its purpose during the height of a pandemic, it has also been viewed by travellers as a potential deterrent. Being a heavily cross-border market, our top attractions, Caesars Windsor, the largest casino resort in Canada, and our award-winning EPIC Wineries, have lost a third and between 25% and 50% respectively of their visitors from the U.S. The Muscedere and Mitchell families from EPIC Wineries have expressed to me that they've seen a 50% decline in U.S. visitation compared with 2019.
Some have viewed the app as a hassle, especially if they were not aware of the need to complete it beforehand. While we realize that there have been efforts to scale back the app significantly in terms of the number of questions and steps involved, including having a quarantine plan in place, it is still time-consuming for the travellers.
Our destination largely depends on spontaneous “rubber tire” travel, meaning visitors drive to Windsor Essex from neighbouring states such as Michigan and Ohio for daytrips or long weekends to visit friends and family. These visitors tend to spend twice as much as domestic travellers. Having any additional encumbrances can lead this highly coveted demographic of travellers to go elsewhere. Now, more than ever, we need to reignite this market, as these visitors play a significant role in bringing expenditures to our local economy, historically accounting for almost 50% of our annual five million visits.
There is a clear, pent-up demand for global travellers to come to Canada and we need to embrace this opportunity now, otherwise the desire will switch to other destinations that are hassle-free, or have fewer restrictions than what are currently being enforced here.
Seniors and people who do not have access to a smart phone or who choose to turn off their phone data when crossing an international border are struggling with the ArriveCAN app as well. The app technology, combined with the app itself, have created confusion at the border, which has contributed to significant delays.
Let’s not forget about the unvaccinated, constituting 33% of Americans, who have not even been able to cross borders based on these restrictions in place.
Ultimately, it needs to be determined whether the ArriveCAN app has any substantial benefits at all to the community at large. At this time, given the aforementioned progress made against the COVID-19 virus, it appears that the benefits of the app are negligible.
It should also be annunciated that symptoms from an infected person with the current strain of COVID-19 can take between two and four days to present, and visitors coming back from daytrips or long weekends may not even have any symptoms until after they have completed the ArriveCAN app. Studies have also postulated that approximately 60% of the population could be asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, which again would render the ArriveCAN app a moot point, as symptoms would not be exhibited at the time of crossing the border.
Suspending the vaccine mandate for domestic and outbound travel would be a welcome move by the federal government towards normalizing travel. As Canada is viewed as the most desired foreign travel destination by Americans at this time, it's important not only to retain this mindset, but also to build on it through the various stages of the purchase funnel.
As Beth mentioned, our tourism industries face the most significant declines in active businesses. While on the road to recovery, tourism has not kept pace with the rest of the business sector. For our local tourism-related businesses to return to some form of normalcy—restaurants, accommodations, attractions, tours, festivals and events, shops and districts themselves—we absolutely need a clear path for the traveller that does not create hesitancy, doubt, frustration or a complete disinterest in coming over to explore our region, the province or the nation.
To have this much-needed industry and driver in our economy return to prepandemic levels, one of the key considerations is bringing back our most valued geographic market, the U.S. It is incumbent to suspend the use of the ArriveCAN app to encourage these travellers to return to Canada in a more streamlined manner without any complications or delays at the border.
Thank you.