Reconnecting in person is worth a party in itself, but as Air Canada prepares to host travel partner events in Toronto and Montreal, Lisa Pierce, VP Canada/USA Sales, says there are multiple reasons to celebrate.
"We're getting together with a lot of our partners to celebrate travel agent month, to celebrate that travel is returning and to celebrate our summer schedule," said Pierce in a conversation with TravelPulse Canada.
"We've been through a lot together and we're just getting our sea legs back."
The 35-year Air Canada employee says the past two years have been a true test of partnership. "We hope we've expressed our gratitude to our travel partners. We couldn't have gotten through it without them."
Pierce says the pandemic and the world's response took the airline and the travel industry "lower than we ever thought we'd go," but she sees strong signs of recovery and believes important lessons have been learned.
The turbulent period gave Air Canada a deeper appreciation for the value of the service travel advisors provide, Pierce says, rather than simply measuring by their sales.
"We learned a lot. We're a complex industry. There's lots of information and we have to be good at sharing it."
She's proud of the Travel Ready hub at aircanada.com, which presents all the latest information about COVID testing, vaccination and destination entry requirements in one place - and in a clear and easily understandable format.
"I'm excited about many of the changes we've made," says Pierce. But mostly, she's excited about the world opening up again.
"We're all so happy travel is coming back.One of the big things we're celebrating is the return to many markets. We'll soon be at 90% of pre-pandemic North American capacity, and that's encouraging and inspiring," Pierce said.
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