N.B. bus tour operator delays U.S. travel even with border opening in November

People working in the travel industry in New Brunswick say many travellers are still apprehensive about making trips to the United States even though land borders are opening to Canadians next month.

Linda and Doug Burgess, of Riverview, N.B., own Burgess Tours, a bus tour company that they have been running together for the past 20 years. The couple is planning a bus trip to Myrtle Beach — but it won’t be until next spring, Linda Burgess said.

There is still some hesitancy, Burgess said. “The United States is not at the level that Canada is with vaccination rates, so that is kind of scary for us right now.”

The White House announced on Friday that Canadians will be able to travel by land across the U.S. border for leisure trips, effective Nov. 8.

But Burgess said that many of her clients, who are primarily seniors, are still too apprehensive to travel south of the border.

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

“We only have a certain number of those people who are willing to travel right now, so that cuts your numbers way back,” she said. That means not enough clients are interested to make trips to the U.S. profitable right now.

Some clients are even backing out of their inter Maritime trips due to a rise in cases here at home, said Doug Burgess.

“Once the cases started getting higher, people were getting scared and would cancel,” he said.

The Burgesses run their tour company to supplement their retirement and have lost 100 per cent of their business revenue in the last year. They said losing out on funds has been a struggle, but it is the people with whom they travel that they miss the most.

“Some of these seniors, it is the only time that they get away,” Linda Burgess said. “They don’t have cars. They don’t have people to take them places.”

“I would love to get back to work. I miss the people,” Doug Burgess added.

The Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick said that tourism was a $1.6-billion industry in New Brunswick in 2019, but most operators saw revenues cut by 50 per cent to 100 per cent in the last 19 months, said Carol Alderdice, the association’s president.

“Our tour operators are not really planning anything for 2021. They are looking for 2022,” Alderdice said.

“Some of the bus tours and the tours that our operators work on are things like going to New York in October, and that’s just not going to happen this year.”