Canada Is Reopening Its Borders Pretty Soon But The Feds Still Don’t Want You To Travel

Canada's travel restrictions will begin lifting this month, but the feds don't want you to book a vacation just yet.

From August 9, fully vaccinated Americans will be able to enter Canada for non-essential purposes, including travel, tourism and visiting friends and family.

On the same date, Canada's mandatory hotel stopover will be scrapped, in addition to post-arrival COVID-19 testing and pre-board temperature tests.

Instead, airports will use a new "border testing surveillance program" to identify new variants of concern and monitor vaccine effectiveness.

Additional airports will begin reopening on August 9 and international flights will also be permitted to land in: Halifax Stanfield; Québec City Jean Lesage; Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier; Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson, and Edmonton International Airport.

A month later, on September 7, fully vaccinated travellers from the rest of the world will be permitted to enter the country for discretionary purposes, too.

Can Canadians travel abroad, then?

Despite these changes, the feds don't want Canadians to start booking trips abroad just yet, even if you're fully vaccinated.

In a notice related to the upcoming travel changes, officials warned that, "While Canada continues to trend in the right direction, the epidemiological situation and vaccination coverage is not the same around the world."

The Government of Canada continues to advise against all non-essential travel abroad, as it "increases your risk of exposure to COVID-19 and its variants, as well as of spreading it to others."

The notice adds that border measures are also subject to change, which could cause issues for Canadians overseas.