Beijing, China – Zhou Jing, a 36-year-old business owner in China’s Hebei province, is relieved that Beijing has begun to unwind its harsh “zero-COVID” strategy.
After taking strict precautions to avoid COVID-19 for the past three years, Zhou finally tested positive for the virus earlier this month as cases surged nationwide.
Unlike millions of Chinese affected by the virus earlier in the pandemic, Zhou was able to recover at home instead of at a quarantine facility.
Earlier this month, Beijing announced it would “optimise” its COVID policies by allowing mild cases to quarantine at home, as well as limiting lockdowns, scrapping mass testing, and lifting curbs on domestic travel.
Zhou was glad to be able to face the illness surrounded by her loved ones, and she is happy to know she will not be restricted from doing everyday errands like going to the supermarket in the future.
Still, Zhou, who runs a small tour agency, is not likely to travel far beyond her home anytime soon.
For Zhou, international travel — something she did at least twice a year before 2020 — is off the table for the foreseeable future due to the risk of the virus, even if the borders are reopened in the coming weeks or months.
“I know you can get COVID-19 anywhere now, but at least here in China, I’ll be with my family,” Zhou told Al Jazeera. “Here, the current variant [Omicron] seems more stable. If I go abroad, I fear the virus may mutate.”
Zhou is not alone in being apprehensive.
China has begun unwinding its strict “zero-COVID” policy [Thomas Peter/Reuters]
“People have become cautious,” Imke Wouters, a retail and consumer goods partner at the consultancy, told the Reuters news agency. “So even when they can travel, we don’t think they will come back right away.”
Such nervousness could pose a challenge to the international tourism market’s nascent recovery from the pandemic, which has been held back by China’s ongoing border closures. China’s population spent $288bn on international travel in 2018, nearly one-quarter of the global spending on tourism.
Other data suggests that Chinese may be eager to travel so long as the government lifts its myriad restrictions on moving in and out of the country.
Dragon Trail International, which focuses on the Chinese outbound travel market, surveyed 1,003 people on the mainland between November 7 and 20 and found that more than half of the respondents would head abroad within one year of reopening.
That survey found that “quarantine, strict policies, and inconvenience,” rather than fear of the virus, were the biggest barriers to travel, with 60 percent of respondents expressing hope quarantine-on-arrival will be relaxed.
Lily Zhang, a small business owner in Tianjin, said she was ready to travel solo abroad and do business with international clients in 2023. But she said she is less confident she will be able to travel with her family, especially since her husband returned to Tianjin just last month after nearly three years of being stranded in the Philippines.
“I don’t mind being hit by COVID-19 anymore, even if I get it from abroad,” Zhang told Al Jazeera. “But it would be hard if our children become sick because it would become an added responsibility. We hope to be clear about the rules upon arriving so we can decide to travel as a family.”
Simon He, who is studying for a postgraduate degree in Denmark, said he has decided to return to China in January for an exchange program in Shanghai despite the obstacles, which include eight days of quarantine upon arrival.
After contracting COVID-19 in October, He is confident he can manage the disease if he gets it at home and is looking forward to travelling next year.
“Getting COVID-19 is inevitable,” He said. “Although cases may peak during the Spring Festival holiday, I believe things will be better. I will consider travelling more after that.”
Some travel experts believe domestic tourism hotspots like Hainan are set for a comeback [John Ruwitch/Reuters]
For some Chinese, domestic travel may be a substitute for a holiday abroad.
“The recent removal of restrictions around internal travel in China bodes extremely well for the recovery of Chinese domestic tourism in the coming months and beyond,” Sienna Parulis-Cook, Dragon Trail’s marketing and communications director, told Al Jazeera.
Parulis-Cook said Hainan is likely to make a comeback as a domestic getaway, as will Zhangjiakou, Chongli, and other popular “winter tourism” locations, although she warned “no destination [is] immune” from the effect of a possible re-implementation of strict policies.
But Josie Chen, a travel agency operator, expects domestic tourism, especially high-end luxury hotels and ski resorts, will take a hit from 2023 because “many Chinese are eager to head out”. Her company’s data indicates that most affluent Chinese travel to European or North American countries to buy luxury goods.
“Everyone hopes that borders will reopen soon, but somehow, this isn’t good for our business,” Chen told Al Jazeera. “Domestic travel agencies yet again need to explore the market and change our business model if we are to survive another year.”
Parulis-Cook believes that expectations towards domestic and outbound travel in China “will adjust accordingly”.
“The change in messaging in China now from officials and the media, to stressing that COVID-19 is actually a very mild illness, should also go a long way towards assuaging any virus-related fears about travelling outbound,” she said.
Both Chen and Parulis-Cook said Hong Kong is the first choice of Chinese travellers they communicate with.
China’s border with Hong Kong has been effectively closed since early 2020, although the Asian financial hub last week lifted a three-day monitoring period under which international arrivals were prevented from entering bars and restaurants immediately upon arrival.
Chen said Southeast Asian countries might see an influx of Chinese travellers next year.
Parulis-Cook said she expects the five-day Labour Day holiday in April and May will be the first prime period for outbound trips.
Still, Zhou feels it will not be the right time to travel until coronavirus “is weakened or contained globally”.
“A lot of young people who didn’t travel for a few years will be eager to get out,” Zhou said. “But my biggest worry is when they get sick after going abroad. They may come back with a more extreme variant, and that will just cause more trouble for everyone.”
For others like Zhang, life must go on.
“I don’t want COVID-19 to bother me anymore,” Zhang said, adding that she hopes Chinese people learn to live with the coronavirus. “I just ignore it. My life is not meant to be only about the pandemic.”
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
