Atlantic provinces create COVID-19 ‘bubble,’
East Coasters encouraged to take ‘staycations’ to help tourism industry
HALIFAX— For the past 17 years, Anna-Marie Weir has guided visitors from around the world through the sights and attractions of New Brunswick, from high tide in the Bay of Fundy, to the province’s iconic covered bridges, to the lighthouses along its coast. She knows her client base. One-third of her business at Moncton-based Road to Sea Guided Tours comes from provinces outside of Atlantic Canada, another third from the United States, and a final third from the United Kingdom and overseas.
So news Wednesday that the four Atlantic provinces have banded together to form an “Atlantic travel bubble” — a move it’s hoped will boost the economy and help tourism operators in a region battered by COVID-19 travel bans — left her cool.
“Since 2003, I can count on one hand how many people from Atlantic Canada have taken my tour,” she said.
Buoyed by low COVID-19 case counts, the premiers have announced an agreement to form a travel bubble starting on July 3. Residents will be able to travel freely between Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island without the need to self-isolate on arrival.
Governments for all four provinces have been marketing “staycations” to prod Atlantic Canadians to spend their tourism dollars close to home.
With most of her public tours for Road to Sea cancelled this year, Weir has taken a job as a tourism relations and communications liaison with the Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick to help build its tourism operation.
And, with many local tour operators suffering from the lack of business from away, she says she thinks this might be a great opportunity for Indigenous tourism to flourish.
“There’s certain product developments that are underfoot right now that could shine in this specific time, especially Indigenous tourism, because there’s a history,” she told the Star.
“There’s a story that’s not been told yet that’s part of the real story that connects the past to the present here in Atlantic Canada.
She said although she believes Atlantic Canadians are inclined to want to spend their tourism money close to home, they’re generally reluctant to take tours to attractions they are familiar with.
Indigenous tourism, on the other hand, allows local tourists to learn about a history and culture that is much less familiar.
“There is a want and a need for Indigenous stories to be told, by and through Indigenous people, in their own words, in their own way.”
“I know as a tour operator that people are very interested when I talk about the history of this region. As soon as I start talking about the First Nation people who were here in Atlantic Canada, people want to delve into it further and they want more — they want to know where they can go and get more information,” she said.
As far as the Atlantic travel bubble is concerned, Canadians travelling to Atlantic Canada from other provinces will still have to adhere to the local entry requirements for the specific province they enter, although those visitors who complete 14 days of self-isolation would then be able to travel throughout the region.
Each of the provinces will use its own process for tracking and monitoring travellers.
“The decision to ease travel restrictions within Atlantic Canada was guided by all of the provincial chief medical officers of health,” said Newfoundland Premier Dwight Ball during a news conference Wednesday. Ball is also the chair of the Council of Atlantic Premiers.
“Decisions like this one are not taken lightly. As this Atlantic bubble opens, it will be closely monitored as we remain committed to working together to support economic and social recovery, while ensuring public health and safety measures.”
Ball also proffered July 17 as the earliest possible date to allow unrestricted travel from other Canadian provinces, contingent on coronavirus case numbers remaining low during the previous two weeks of the Atlantic bubble.
The specifics of that move will depend on the results of the first weeks of the Atlantic bubble.
“This can only be possible if we get favourable results in the days and weeks leading into July17. So in order for this to work, we must have to maintain good public health measures,” Ball said.
“We will never hesitate to go back (to tightening restrictions) if we have to. Your actions today will determine our results of tomorrow.”
Nova Scotia — the most populous province in the region — announced Tuesday it had not recorded a new case of the viral infection in the past two weeks and had no active cases. The province had 1,061 total confirmed cases, including 63 deaths — 53 of them at a single long-term-care facility in Halifax.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, where there were 261 confirmed cases and three deaths, the most recent case of COVID-19 was recorded on May 28. Like Nova Scotia, the province has no active cases.
New Brunswick reported one new case in the Moncton region Tuesday, but that person was in self-isolation before the diagnosis and has had no close contacts. The province has 20 active cases. Of the 165 people with confirmed infections, two have died and 143 have recovered.
Prince Edward Island had just 27 cases of COVID-19 and all have recovered. The island last reported a case on April 28.