by Jim Byers
Last updated: 5:51 PM ET, Thu March 25, 2021
There's good new for travel advisors. Canadians are increasingly willing to travel, and they're definitely looking at international trips.
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association held a webinar on Thursday to discuss where things are headed for tourism in the region. The news was mostly positive.
Susan Catto, Head of Publishing and Head of Production, Canada for Travelzoo, told participants that a survey of their Canadian members in January found that 34% were either travelling or ready to travel. This month, that figure was up substantially to 43%. That's an increase of 26.5% in those either travelling now or willing to hit the road.
Figures for US travellers were considerably higher, with a full 66% either travelling in March or ready to do so. If the US-Canada border opens any time soon, that would bode well for tour operators and hoteliers in Canada, as well as for airlines that fly to Canada from US cities.
The study also found that 62% of Canadian members surveyed this month have plans for at least one international trip in the next year. That's slightly higher than the 55% figure for American Travelzoo members.
Catto said a lot of Canadians seem to gearing up for bigger trips in January or February of 2022.
"They'll be running to grab their passports," she said.
The Travelzoo study found that 61% of Canadian members are interested in visiting the Caribbean, which is great new for a region that has seen only a handful of Canadian visitors in the past 12 months.
The top five Caribbean destinations Canadians are interested in are Cuba, the Dominican Republic, the Turks & Caicos, Jamaica and the Bahamas. As always, Canadians are looking mostly for all-inclusive properties in Caribbean destinations, Catto said.
She also noted that Canadians want to stay for long periods of time when they visit. A full 45% of those surveyed this month said they'd want to stay eight nights or more, up from just 10% who said that in August of last year.
Rich Rodriguez from Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic told webinar participants that weddings, albeit smaller ones than in years past, have been picking up tons of steam.
"We've had 23 weddings booked in the last 23 days," he said.
Rodriguez said Casa de Campo gives health kits to everyone who arrives at the resort, with everything from hand sanitizer to masks and disinfectant. They've also added sanitizing stations throughout the property and are encouraging mostly cashless transactions.
George Hunter, Vice President Leisure Sales at POSADAS, said bookings for resorts in Mexico "are just looking great."
Sanovnik Destang, Executive Director at Bay Gardens Resorts in Saint Lucia, said the island nation actually has more airlift from the United States this summer than it did in 2019.
Catto said she thinks Canadian travel numbers will continue to improve as travel restrictions begin to ease and vaccinations in Canada increase. She also noted that Canadian airlines increasing their routes for the summer is "a really good sign."
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