The Liberal Party in Canada, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, last week pledged to provide a bridge program to sustain Canada’s hardest hit businesses, which includes the operators of Canada’s land border stores. The pledge will help the tourism, hospitality, conventions and festival sectors survive the enduring impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the […]
Canada
Canada opens border to vaccinated Americans
From grandparents waiting to hold new babies for the first time to holiday travelers desperate to enjoy a summer vacation, Americans lined up in their cars at 26 border crossings between the U.S. and Canada on Monday, as Canada finally opened to fully vaccinated American tourists for non-essential travel for the first time since March […]
Canada eases border restrictions for vaccinated travelers, starting with Americans on Aug. 9; U.S. extends closure
Canada’s federal government announced Monday, July 19, that fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents who currently reside in the U.S. can travel to Canada for non-essential purposes without quarantining as of Aug. 9. Additionally, Canada announced that it will open its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from any country for non-essential purposes, with proof […]
FDFA petitions Canadian government for C$6.6 million in critical aid as land border duty free business remains shuttered
With Canada’s land borders with the United States shut down for all but essential traffic for more than 16 months and business in the country’s duty free stores down more than 95%, Canada’s Frontier Duty Free Association is desperately petitioning the federal government for some relief to the crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The […]
U.S./Canada border remains closed for another month
Canada announced that it is extending the closure of its border with the U.S. due to the COVID-19 pandemic until July 21, according to a tweet Friday morning by Bill Blair, Canada’s Minister for Public Safety and Emergency Prepared-ness. The border closure will now extend into its 16th month. “Our number one priority as we […]
Wine Classics: Staying connected in Canada despite border shutdown
The U.S./Canada border has now been closed for more than a year. But Wine Classics International’s relationships with its suppliers and the Canadian duty free operators is stronger than ever, Sherri Gidney, Sales and Marketing Travel Retail Manager at Wine Classics, tells TMI. The two countries closed the border on March 21, 2020, and the […]
CHTA asks Canadian Government to reverse harmful COVID-19 travel requirement
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has asked the Government of Canada to reconsider new pandemic testing rules that will strain already stressed Caribbean public health systems and cause further damage to the region’s economy. “This policy is creating challenges and places even greater economic hardship on the people and governments of the Caribbean […]
Canada announces new COVID-19 testing requirements for all arriving air passengers
The Canadian government announced new COVID-19 testing requirements this week for all air travelers flying into Canada. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says the new requirements adds to the country’s existing “draconian COVID-19 border control regimes.” Effective midnight on January 7, 2021, regardless of citizenship, all travelers five years of age or older must provide […]
Frontier Duty Free Association applauds Canadian Government support for the Hardest Hit sectors
The Frontier Duty Free Association (FDFA) has applauded the Canadian Federal Government’s long-awaited Fall Economic Statement released this week which centers around support for Canada’s hardest hit businesses. The FDFA joined together with the Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses earlier this year in an effort to obtain much-needed relief for its land border members, whose […]
ARI’s Jackie McDonagh: “Treat every customer like gold”
Since Aer Rianta International reopened The Loop international store at YUL Montréal- Trudeau International Airport in July, passenger traffic has not picked up to the level that was expected. Fewer passengers means that sales are low, only a fraction of what they had been before the coronavirus pandemic brought global travel to a stand-still and […]
Canadian land border situation “dire,” says FDFA
FDFA Executive Director Barbara Barrett, speaking at the Duty Free World Council webinar the day of the CHHB announcement, says the situation for the land border stores is “dire” and is now about survival. “We are now at six months of the U.S./ Canadian border being closed with no indication from our sources that it […]
FDFA: Canadian government extends wage benefits for Hardest Hit Businesses after coalition appeal
A group of Canada’s businesses most impacted by COVID-19, which joined forces to help save two million Canadian jobs, received a positive response from the government. Last week the Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses (CHHB)—of which the Frontier Duty Free Association (FDFA) is a member — launched a campaign calling on the federal government to extend the […]
Aer Rianta International back in business at Montréal- Trudeau International Airport
Aer Rianta International (ARI) has re-opened The Loop international store at YUL Montréal- Trudeau International Airport. The store has been closed since March 24, in line with the government order for the closure of all non-essential outlets to contain the spread of coronavirus. ARI’s team in North America has taken a wide range of measures to […]
The Ambassador Bridge pays tolls for essential workers
Essential workers who cross the U.S. border with Canada using the Ambassador Bridge will no longer have to pay tolls during the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning on May 21. Ambassador Bridge chairman Matthew Moroun said the cost of passenger vehicle tolls will be covered by the Canadian Transit Company, a company owned by his family. “We […]
Blue Water Bridge DF stays open for essential travelers even as border business is “decimated”
While most of the Canadian land border stores have closed their doors during the COVID-19 pandemic, Blue Water Bridge Duty Free in Point Edward, Ontario has remained open to essential traffic. But Blue Water Bridge Duty Free’s business over this period has been “decimated,” Tania Lee, Vice President, tells TMI. “The worst case scenario for any […]
