Some hesitancy in travelling abroad could mean good things for the Canadian economy as more people opt to travel domestically over the next year or so.
CAA Regional Manager of Customer Experience Susan Postma said travel plans have been a "mixed bag" this year with a surge in bookings and then a recent trickle of cancellations.
"Certainly with recent information that's happening day by day, we have seen some cancellations for people that are really travelling in the near term -- or short term -- to some of those winter destinations that people may have been taking across December, January, February," said Postma. "There's a lot to process and a lot to be mindful of and some people are cancelling as they sort of see what unfolds."
Postma said circumstances are "fast-moving" so it's tough to say if the number of cancellations over the next couple of months will grow but some are certainly anticipated.
"I do think that we'll see some cancellations for that short and near term," she said.
Even when the travel industry noted an uptick in bookings, Postma said the number of trips hadn't reached pre-pandemic levels.
In terms of domestic travel, Postma said bookings are currently "very high".
"We anticipate that to continue," she said. "Canada is a beautiful country to tour and of course people do want to connect with family and we expect to see continued domestic travel."
Postma also said many people with domestic travel plans are booking for late 2022, into 2024.
For those with travel plans, either domestic or international, Postma said more people have started to seek assurances by way of travel insurance.
"Our priority is that we always want people to travel safely, travel confidently, and travel with knowledge; and travel health insurance is a key component of that," she said. "We have seen a nice uptick with that. Our snowbirds of course who hadn't maybe gone last year are certainly indicating that they're going now."
Postma encourages travellers to consult a travel agent, allow for extra time at airports, to be patient, and perhaps more importantly, do their research.
"We want people to be mindful, and safe, and informed, and attentive to what the country that you're going to -- what their advisories and travel requirements are as well as what the advisories and travel requirements are in Canada," said Postma.
The federal government imposed new travel regulations and testing requirements in late November in response to the Omicron variant.
Moving forward, fully vaccinated travellers arriving in Canada by air from countries other than the U.S., will be required to get tested for COVID-19 upon arrival and will have to quarantine as they await the results. Unvaccinated travellers will continue to be tested upon arrival and on the eighth day after the fact, and quarantine for 14 days. Unvaccinated travellers will also be required to stay at a designated quarantine facility or other suitable location while they await their arrival test results.
Further details can be found on the Government of Canada's website.