I know. I know. It’s early. We’re still seeing hospitalizations at record levels in parts of Canada and the U.S. But some health experts are beginning to see the light at the end of the Omicron tunnel, and a number of travel industry types say they expect big things in the next couple months. According to a report on CTV News, Canadian government forecasts show falling COVID-19 infection numbers coming soon for Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Halifax here in Canada. The Toronto Star today carried an Associated Press report that suggested the UK and the US could soon see declines, Read more
travel trends
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
A new survey conducted by JourneyWoman shows that the pandemic hasn’t diminished women’s desire for solo travel. Conducted between December 13 and 17, the JourneyWoman TravelReady Outlook 2022 survey reflects both optimism and caution, with 51% of women planning to travel internationally from January and June 2022 — dependent on pandemic guidance and travel advisories. In response to the new variant, the survey also shows that the majority of solo travellers (43%) are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach, and 30% have not cancelled or postponed travel plans for 2022. “Seasoned solo travellers travel on their own terms, and in Read more
A new survey finds that roughly one-third of Canadians have cancelled travel plans due to the Omicron variant. The survey by Canadian-based redflagdeals.com found that 31% of respondents said they’ve cancelled flights because of the variant. Of course, that means nearly 70% plan to go ahead with travel plans. WestJet officials today told me they were very busy over the Christmas weekend. The survey also found that 63% of Canadians are hesitant about booking new flights right now. But Canadians also appear optimistic about the future. While only 22% of Canadians plan to fly in the next one to three Read more
Cruise travel is back. New research from Expedia Group, in partnership with Environics Analytics, finds that the past few weeks have seen a resurgence in cruise demand, with travellers eager to resume vacations at sea. Expedia Group data indicates that there has been more than a 20% month on month increase in demand in Canadian cruise searches for travel in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.[1] Additional demographics research by Environics Analytics measured a sample of approximately 3,000 post-pandemic ‘early adopters’, defined as having booked trips after March 1, 2021 that depart between July 1, Read more
