The Canadian travel surge is here, and Canadians are booking trips around the world.
Canadian agents say they’ve definitely seen a bump in requests since the federal government announced last week that, as of February 28, it would no longer require expensive PCR-style/molecular tests for people coming into Canada. Instead, Canadians and visitors will be able to show negative rapid antigen test results taken within 72 hours of their scheduled departure, or their arrival at a Canadian land border.
“For sure removing the PCR Test was the catalyst. It was not only costly; it was time consuming running around trying to find a place to do PCR tests at destination,” said Toronto agent Wendy Davis of Zebrano Travel.
Davis, who specializes in luxury travel, said she’s booking a lot of Europe trips for the spring, summer and fall, including visits to Portugal, Italy, France and Greece.
“We are booking well into 2023 now,” Davis said. “Clients are getting comfy with the ‘epic’ trip requests as well – trips they have put off that are on their bucket lists.”
Those dream trips include such exotic locations as Peru, Africa, Borneo and Australia.
“We lost two years of travel,” Davis noted. “Time to make it up!”
Davis said it’s still tricky for agents and the public to understand the various entry rules around the world. She also noted that she still advises clients to buy Trip Cancellation Insurance and to be sure they have medical coverage for COVID-19.
“I’ve seen a noticeable uptick since the beginning of 2022, to be honest,” said Amy Urquhart from PureMagicVacations.ca.
Urquhart said she’s booking Disney, Universal and all-inclusive trips, and that she’s getting “fun inquiries” for “bucket list” destinations.
Walt Disney World. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Marty Firestone of Travel Secure said there’s been a “big time” increase in interest in the past week or so, including a large uptick in all-inclusive inquiries for sun destinations such as the Caribbean and Mexico for March Break. Popular international spots include Italy, Israel and France.
Firestone said customers still are worried about trip cancellations and another wave of COVID-19, and that some are hesitant to put down a deposit.
Still, he said that the lifting of the Canadian government’s “do not travel advisory” and the change to allow rapid antigen tests instead of molecular tests “has had a huge affect on people’s morale and interest in travel.”
Travel advisor Kim Machan said she spent the longest time booking groups, then cancelling them, then rebooking. Now, folks are eager to travel again.
Machan, who’s with Essence of Romance Travel and also works as an agent with The Travel Agent Next Door, said she’s adding more passengers to her group bookings, and that passengers who were reluctant to fly a couple months ago because of the PCR test requirement are taking trips.
“I’m not getting any cancellations, either, and I’m used to getting many every week.”
