A view of the Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine, in Amritsar, India, Sept.20, 2023. Travellers and the sector that relies on them are rattled by heightened tensions between Canada and India, but see no reason to rethink their overseas plans for now. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Prabhjot Gill
MONTREAL – Travellers and the sector that relies on them are rattled by heightened tensions between Canada and India, but see no reason to rethink their overseas travel plans for now.
Urvi Chawla, who works at Sahib Travel Agency in Brampton, Ont., says clients are a little scared, inundating her with questions about visas and flight availability, though no signs of a dip in demand have emerged.
Some 212 one-way flights made the voyage between India and Canada in August, according to aviation data firm Cirium,about 14 per cent more than a year earlier – before a bilateral deal lifted the cap on plane trips, allowing for unlimited flights.
As the travel industry recovers from a devastating COVID-19 pandemic, University of Manitoba transport institute director Barry Prentice says the spat would likely only hurt operators if it spirals out of control, as the pull of education, friends and family remains far stronger than the rhetoric of a diplomatic rift.
Tensions flared after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that Canadian intelligence services are investigating a potential link between India’s government and the death of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.
Indian officials deemed those claims absurd and issued an advisory warning Indian nationals and students in Canada to be cautious due to what the external affairs ministry called politically condoned hate crimes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2023.
