David Gudgel, CEO of the Victoria Clipper, is celebrating the change in Canada’s COVID-19 testing policy.
When Canadian land borders reopened months ago, Gudgel thought it was full steam ahead. The Victoria Clipper resumed sailings in September. But what at first seemed like a triumphant return didn’t last for long.
“The border was open but the requirements were such that it was really difficult to decipher the correct information and make sure you had the right tests, within the right time frame,” Gudgel said. “We saw a lot of folks who were disappointed, who were arriving last fall with the wrong test or who didn’t realize they needed a test.”
According to Gudgel, the amount of tickets they were selling was not enough to cover the cost of crew and fuel.
“And so, we made the really tough decision to close back down again,” Gudgel said.
Thursday, the Canadian government announced a change to COVID-19 testing policy.
On April 1, random testing will replace more expensive PCR tests.
Now to cross a Canadian land border, all you need to show customs is a passport, proof of two COVID-19 vaccines and to fill out information on the ArriveCan app.
“The app isn’t going away, that’ll be with us for a little while,” Gudgel said.
Typically during the summer, what’s considered peak season, the Victoria Clipper offers two daily roundtrip sailings. However, when they welcome back passengers on April 15 they’ll cut sailings back to one a day.
“A little bit of a conservative approach, but also recognizing the time its going to take to process folks coming into Canada,” Gudgel said.
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