No reason for Canadians not to travel to Mexico, says public health chief

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/04/2009 (6013 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – There’s no reason Canadians shouldn’t travel to Mexico in the wake of positive swine flu cases being identified in the country, Canada’s chief public health officer said Friday.

Dr. David Butler-Jones told a news conference in Ottawa that Canada has not issued a travel advisory telling its citizens to stay away from Mexico, and neither has the U.S. He also noted there have been no human cases of swine flu in Canada.

Still, Butler-Jones said the positive cases being reported are "very concerning."

"What it will lead to is impossible to predict," he said. "That’s the importance of understanding it as quickly as we can and managing each of the issues as quickly as we can and working very co-operatively across countries and with the (World Health Organization) and others to address it."

Butler-Jones said officials believe the swine flu spreads the same way as the seasonal flu, and they are working to get a better picture of how serious the infection is.

Simple measures can help prevent serious infections, including washing hands thoroughly and frequently, and covering coughs and sneezes, he added.

If someone has returned home from Mexico and shows signs of illness, Butler-Jones said they should inform their health-care provider that they have recently travelled to Mexico.

The Latin American country has confirmed 20 deaths linked to the suspected flu, but 40 other fatalities are being investigated. At least 943 people across the country are sick from the swine flu virus.

The announcement of positive cases of swine flu came on the heels of the sudden closure of tour operator Conquest Vacations due to economic problems. In the aftermath, some vacationers were forced to pay extra out of pocket for their holidays.

Mexico has long been a hotspot for Canadian travellers seeking to soak up the sun.

A report last year from Statistics Canada revealed that 2007 marked the second consecutive year Mexico was the most visited overseas country by Canadian tourists. Canadians made more than one million overnight visits to Mexico in 2007, up nearly 21 per cent from 2006.

Allison Wallace, communications manager for Flight Centre North America, said she put out a message to consultants at the company’s 150 shops asking if they had received queries or cancellations directly related to the swine flu outbreak or the Conquest closure.

So far, Wallace said she isn’t aware of any feedback from clients expressing concern about travelling to Mexico.

"It’s a bit hard because there are so many destinations people can go to, so somebody may make that decision and not tell us," she said from Vancouver.

"We haven’t had people voicing concerns as of yet. It is still early stages. With something like the flu outbreak, I think it’s a bit wait-and-see at this point."

It’s a similar story for David McCaig, president and COO of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies. He said he isn’t aware from his group’s retail members who sell Mexico vacations that there has been a change in attitude on the part of consumers.

"They’ve separated the difference between the failure of a tour operator wholesaler, Conquest Vacations, and some concerns of a possible flu outbreak," said McCaig, whose association represents 2,400 travel agencies across Canada.

For their part, ACTA issued a release Friday calling on all Canadian travel agencies, including non-ACTA members, to provide detailed information concerning clients that were mistreated by hotels involved by the failure of Conquest Vacations. Their goal is to help pressure the hotels to refund passengers and apologize in writing "for their unprecedented behaviour."