New Canadian travel rules are sparking a surge in demand for U.S. and international travel, Expedia Canada reports. One big beneficiary appears to be the cruise industry, as Canadian search cruises are up sharply in the past few days.
“The easing of Canada’s travel restrictions is set to inspire a greater demand for U.S./ international travel and family travel in the coming weeks, in line with the trends that we have seen in our latest research findings,” officials said.
- Expedia Group’s 2022 Traveler Value Index anticipates an international travel comeback for 2022, with 43% of Canadians planning to travel internationally in the next six months.
- The Q4 2021 Travel Recovery Trend Report saw global week-over-week searches spike during the week of December 27, and this heightened interest has been sustained into the first weeks of 2022, with global, North America and European search volumes even higher during the first two weeks of January compared to the last week of December 2021.
- Expedia Cruises search data shows a +35% day-over-day increase from Canadian travellers since the announcement.
- At the same time, there is a +10% increase of cruise search for Canadian destinations.
- There is about +10% day-over-day increase of air searches from Canadian travellers since the announcement.
- Air search demand by Canadian travellers for international destinations have grown noticeably, e.g. Fort Lauderdale, one of the top destinations, has a +35% of increasing search day-over-day and a +55% last-7-days growth rate.
The Canadian government earlier this week said that,, as of February 28, it will allow people coming into Canada to show negative results from a rapid antigen test, rather than the expensive PCR-style or molecular tests that are currently required.
As Canadians begin gearing up for their next trip, their research findings also shed light on consumers travel priorities and ways that travel companies and advisors can adapt to meet this demand:
- The 2022 Traveler Value Index anticipates that people will invest more in travel compared to pre-COVID-19, with Canadians expected to spend on average more than $2.5K CAD on their next trip.
- The report also finds that travellers will be looking to engrain sustainability into their next vacation, with 59% willing to pay more in fees to make their trip more sustainable, while 48% of travellers will choose a destination that is lesser-known/less crowded to reduce the effects of overtourism.
