Northern travel agents busy after non-essential travel advisory returns

After lifting its non-essential travel advisory in October, the Canadian government reversed its stance earlier this week amid the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant leaving people who had plans for warm weather getaways worried.

This news has also left travel agencies busier than ever.

"The decision a lot of people are trying to make right now is do I go, do I cancel, do I rebook for later in the spring," Chris Mayne, the owner of Mayne Travel in North Bay, said.

"That’s what we’ve been very busy with the last few days, trying to talk through that with people," Mayne said.

He told CTV News the most important thing he is reminding his clients to do is to make sure they have medical insurance and that they can access medical help while away on vacation.

"Twice this fall we have seen people at destinations actually test positive while there, the day they were supposed to come home, so there is insurance available," Mayne said.

"Most of the insurance companies seem to be of the opinion that they are still going to provide medical insurance while they’re outside of the province until the government says 'do not travel outside the province.'"

After lifting its non-essential travel advisory in October, the Canadian government reversed its stance earlier this week amid the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.