MONTEGO BAY, St James —Even as news broke Wednesday that the Canadian Government plans to advise against all non-essential travel in an effort to keep Omicron — the newest variant of the novel coronavirus — at bay, regional tourism players pointed to the danger of travel bans and ineffectiveness of travel advisories.

“The Canadian market is one of the very, very strong markets for the Caribbean. So we would hate to see that our Canadian brothers and sisters will not be able to enjoy their winter in the Caribbean,” said Caribbean Hotel and Tourist Association (CHTA) President Nicola Madden-Greig, in response to a question about the impact of the planned restrictions.

She was speaking Wednesday during a media briefing on the winter outlook for the sector. It coincided with the official start of the season.

In her opening remarks, she had also addressed the general issue.

“We remain concerned that the progress which the region has made towards recovery can be quickly reversed by overreaction in our main source markets to the advent of new variants. While we understand the need to mitigate the spread, we urge governments to reconsider border closures and other highly restrictive measures,” she said.

The CHTA has long been vocal in its opposition to travel bans and other barriers that could negatively impact the sector’s ongoing recovery. It is a position shared by the World Travel & Tourism Council and the World Health Organization. Earlier this week, the CHTA wrote to the Caribbean Community to once again caution against travel restrictions and trumpet the success the region’s tourism industry has had in keeping visitors and employees safe during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The same message will be delivered to major markets, including Canada.

“An individual approach will be made to the respective governments of our major markets, be it Canada, US and the UK, reinforcing all of those details of our proactiveness, the success the region has had and reassuring, as well, that travel to the Caribbean is safe,” said CHTA Acting CEO and Director General Vanessa Ledesma.

During Wednesday’s briefing, the point was made that while travel bans are harmful, travel advisories are usually ignored.

“What we can see over and over again, is that when travel restrictions are lifted, there’s a real boost in the number of bookings and a strong rebound to 2019 levels. So if what you do is advise people not to travel, what happens is that people still travel,” said vice-president of insights for airline analytics company ForwardKeys, Olivier Ponti.

Such is the pent up demand for travel, he said, that people are still booking flights for locations that are seeing spikes in the number of COVID-19 cases. He cited Greece as an example, saying data from this year had shown there was no direct correlation between the number of cases and visitor interest. The lesson for tourist destinations, he said, is to remain open for business.

“If the Government does not decide to close its border due to the evolution of the pandemic, the willingness to travel is so strong that people will still book their holiday. That’s very encouraging for the travel sector because it means that demand is there. And if governments commit to kick-starting the recovery of the travel sector, it happens,” said Ponti.