A top Air Canada executive says business travel in Canada could reach pre-2019 levels by the end of this year. There’s also encouraging news about a Canadian leisure travel rebound. In an interview with Reuters, Air Canada Chief Commercial Officer Lucie Guillemette said Canada could even be close to pre-pandemic business travel numbers by Labour Day. “We’re actually very encouraged,” she said this week. “We’re certainly not close to 2019 levels yet, but we are thinking, based on what we’re seeing, most probably by the time we hit Labour Day, or get into 2023 it should be quite close.” That’s Read more
business travel
Canadian cities are beginning to recover from more than two years of a terrible tourism drought. Destination Vancouver says March 2022 occupancy was 65% in the city, up substantially from 40% in March of 2021. “We’re definitely seeing pick-up,” a spokesperson told me. “Looking ahead to the next six months, hotel bookings are up over 300% compared to same time last year. “Tourism is coming back.” Scott Beck, president and CEO of Destination Toronto, tells me that Toronto was at 60% hotel occupancy last month. Toronto was around 40% for the first couple months of the year. Beck said it’s Read more
There are more positive signs pointing to a travel rebound this year and in the coming years, both for leisure and business travel. According to a report from Reuters, Spanish tourism officials expect the country’s tourism gross domestic product to reach $186 billion CAD in 2022. That would be 88% of pre-pandemic levels, versus just 57% for last year. Officials said they expect to return to full pre-pandemic activity by 2023. It’s not just Spain that’s painting a rosy tourism picture. The Global Business Travel Association this week said global business travel spending is expected to surge in 2022. The Read more
It’s a day of mixed messages when it comes to world travel. Here’s a roundup of some of today’s headlines. JAPAN SHUTS DOORS THROUGH FEBRUARY Japan will maintain its tight entry restrictions to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 until the end of February, the prime minister said on Tuesday, though some exceptions for humanitarian reasons may be considered, Reuters reports. “Japan adopted some of the strictest border controls in the world when the Omicron variant emerged late last year, banning all new entry by non-Japanese people, including students and foreign family members of Japanese or permanent Read more
It wasn’t too hard to predict what travel would be like in 2021. Judging the year ahead seems trickier to me. In mid-November, I was fairly confident that 2022 would be pretty darn good for travel and tourism. Maybe not everywhere, but probably in North America, Europe and the Caribbean. Hotels were re-opening in Toronto and other cities, airlines were announcing new routes, and tourism boards were actually travelling to other destinations to promote their brand. But then Omicron appeared out of nowhere, and a feeling of “here we go again” dread came over many of us in the travel Read more
