Paul Nursey says he鈥檚 disappointed the U.S. has issued a travel advisory urging its citizens to reconsider travel to sa国际传媒. But the head of Destination Greater Victoria says it鈥檚 unlikely to make much difference to this year鈥檚 tourism season, given the timing at the end of summer.
This week, the U.S. State Department urged Americans to reconsider travel to sa国际传媒, though it did not impose any new restrictions on movement between the two countries.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. told media outlets the escalation of the travel advisory to Level 3 鈥� reconsider travel 鈥� from Level 2 鈥� exercise increased caution 鈥� was to protect those who have not been vaccinated.
Nursey said the battered and bruised tourism industry, which has been subsisting on domestic tourism dollars again this year, will take it in stride, as it was already anticipating that it would be months before there is any kind of return to normalcy where U.S. travellers are concerned.
Nursey said that as expected, only a trickle of vehicles has been coming through U.S.-sa国际传媒 land crossings since they reopened to American leisure travel Aug. 9.
He compared it to the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., when it wasn鈥檛 until February 2002 that Americans began travelling to sa国际传媒 again. 鈥淰irtually nothing moved until February 2002 and then it came back hard,鈥� he said. 鈥淓veryone will need an adjustment period.鈥�
That adjustment period will likely involve Americans with close ties to sa国际传媒 making the trip and starting to tell their friends about the process, he said.
鈥淚t takes time to get used to it, it takes time for trust to build again,鈥� Nursey said. 鈥淏ut hopefully by next spring we have a critical mass.鈥�
Nursey said the industry has been well-supported by the Canadian domestic traveller, but after this weekend, it鈥檚 back to school and work for most.
鈥淲e expect demand to drop off considerably after that,鈥� he said, noting that鈥檚 when they will miss the higher-spending U.S. and international traveller.
