As province reopens, demand for travel increases with Londoners wanting to visit family overseas

As Ontario loosens COVID-19 restrictions, with increased vaccination rates and lower case counts, the London region is starting to already see more travel.

The ease comes after nearly 16 months of strict travel restrictions for Canadians. As of last Monday, fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents who received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are able to skip the 14-day quarantine and are no longer required to spend the first three days back in Canada in a government-approved hotel.

Travel agents in London say the hunk of increased demand in flights overseas are those yearning to reunite with their families abroad after months of being apart.

Rajeev Pookottilthadaparambath arrived in December of 2019 to study engineering at Fanshawe College. 

Pookottilthadaparambath, who is a permanent resident from India, hasn't seen his family for almost two years due to the pandemic. 

A few weeks ago, he booked a month-long trip to India in October to reunite with his family and attend his brother's wedding. That means a 14-hour flight from Toronto to Abu Dhabi, U.A.E, and a connecting flight to Kochi, India.

"My grandmother, she's been counting days," he said. "Yesterday, I called her and she said you'll be here in 84 days, so I'm really excited."

Pookottilthadaparambath said he has gotten his first COVID-19 vaccine dose and will receive his second in the coming weeks, before his trip to India. But even fully vaccinated, he said he is concerned given India's high number of COVID-19 cases and will be trying to adhere to public health measures to stay safe.

Hanna Amirrad, owner of Hannah Travel, has been operating her travel agency in London since 2010. She said the past seven months have been "very, very busy" after a lull since the start of the pandemic.

In May, Amirrad took a trip to Dubai to visit her parents after more than seven years, and had to continue working while she was away due to the increased demand.

"I was working until 3 o'clock in the morning," Amirrad said.

'Most people travelling to see family' 

Most of the trip destinations the travel agency is booking are to countries in the Middle East and Europe, said Amirrad.

"Most people are travelling to their own country to see family," she said. "We do have packages but it's not as busy as before."

Amirrad said most, if not all flights, she is booking for local clients are out of Toronto's Pearson Airport due to a small selection of trips flying out of the London International Airport.

But with an increase in demand, also comes an increase in cost. Amirrad said most overseas flights that could be found for less than $1,000 a few months ago, are now likely more than $1,700.

During a media briefing on Thursday, Dr. Chris Mackie, the London region's medical officer of health, advised anyone travelling to avoid indoor contact when possible.

"We know that some jurisdictions outside of Canada aren't following the same sorts of protocols around indoor exposures," Mackie said. "Travelling itself isn't a tremendous risk if you're still going to follow appropriate precautions, at least if you look at the U.S., the rate of COVID-19 there is comparable to what you're seeing here. There are some hotspots."

"The big difference is around the lack of public health measures in some places where masking and restrictions in terms of numbers of people are no longer in place around the world."

This includes hot spots in Africa and South America and in parts of Asia, where the rate of spread is much higher than in Canada, Mackie said.  

As travel demand increases, the London International Airport has also added more trips. There are two flights each day to Toronto with Air Canada, four flights a week to Calgary with WestJet and 10 flights weekly to Toronto with WestJet.

"We hope to see more options return as the demand for travel from Londoners and the surrounding community recover," said Lauren Stafford, manager of marketing and business development at the London airport.

Stafford said while the airport isn't able to provide the exact number of people flying in and out of London, they have definitely seen an uptick.

"As little as a month or two months ago, our parking lot was essentially empty which is a reflection of people really not travelling in the area at that time due to the pandemic," Stafford said. "Recently, in the last two to three weeks, our parking lot is definitely filling up."

"We take that as a really positive sign and we're happy to see the parking lot fill up again and see travellers start to travel once again, in a safe way."