Canada just issued a non-essential travel warning & here’s what it means

To no real surprise, Canada’s government has formally warned residents to avoid international travel, as the rise of the OMICRON variant has led to some new concerns. While this won’t legally prevent folks from heading out of the country, it will have broad ramifications on the travelling experience.

Today’s announcement brings us back to the same non-essential travel advisory that was issued way back in March 2020 and only just lifted this past October.

Essentially, the advisory exists to discourage Canadians from travelling abroad. While this is difficult timing for thousands of Canadians looking to get out of the country, it comes on the heels of Prime Minister Trudeau speaking with the provincial leaders to decide a plan of action.

“To those who were planning to travel I see very clearly, now is not the time to travel,” said Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos at an Ottawa press conference on Wednesday.

Duclos added that while those travelling abroad will be at risk of the variant, they’ll also run the risk of being stranded for indefinite periods of time. Some countries are already on Canada’s banned re-entry list, while others have varying levels of advisories for Canadians that you can find right here.

It is worth noting, however, that the Canada non-essential travel advisory overrules all other advisories on the Canadian government site.

The government is also planning to have fully-vaccinated passengers arriving from any country except for the U.S. be subject to arrival testing and to self-isolate at home while awaiting results. When this is coming hasn’t been confirmed.

Well, here’s hoping jet-setting around the world becomes easier once 2022 arrives.