CANADA. The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued another travel advisory last night against travel to Toronto, Beijing and China’s Shanxi province.
The WHO director of communicable diseases David Heymann said the recommendation to postpone non-essential travel would be in effect for at least three weeks.
The advice, issued as the global death toll reached 251, places the cities under semi-quarantine and spells an end to tourism for a period that could extend to several months. Toronto becomes the first non-Asian city to be singled out by the WHO. The organisation’s actions sparked dismay in Toronto among officials and business leaders who fear serious and long term damage to travel-related businesses and the economy in general.
In 2001, The Nuance Group’s duty free business at Toronto Lester Pearson airport was worth an estimated C$55 million (US$35.6 million), according to Generation DataBank. The pivotal duty free bid at the airport, currently being contested by Nuance, Aer Rianta International-North America and others, could also be thrown into doubt. The Bank of Canada last night trimmed its economic growth outlook for the country from 3% to 2.5%.
Toronto tourism officials were reporting anecdotally that hotel occupancy and visitor numbers were down, even before yesterday’s WHO statement. Tourism Toronto president Bruce MacMillan commented: “We have pulled together stakeholders from the province, the unions, hotels, the restaurant association and the city, all in an effort to bring together a recovery plan.”
We will be featuring more news on the situation in Toronto as it breaks.
