Ontario tourism operators hope for summer staycation boom
In the wake of trade tensions between Canada and the U.S., s taycations are growing in popularity. Many Canadian travellers are avoiding or cancelling trips to American states and making summer vacation plans closer to home instead.
A boutique hotel chain in Ontario is already noticing that shift.
"Our stats are projecting that we're going to have our best summer ever," said Meghan James, general manager at the Somewhere Inn in Calabogie, Ont.
The 11-room location, nestled in the Ottawa Valley, has been around for four years. Nearly a year ago, the owners opened a second Somewhere Inn at a historic century home in Collingwood, Ont. — a town north of Toronto.
In the last 30 days, James said, both properties have seen an 100 per cent increase in bookings compared to the same period last year. For the most part, those bookings are being made by Canadians.
"I just love that Canadians are doing a very Canadian thing and just deciding to support local and stay local," she said.
Andrew Siegwart, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, has been hearing similar reports of an increase in early bookings from other industry players. But he said it's too early to tell whether the numbers some hotels are seeing will be reflected across Ontario given the potential for more economic and political uncertainty.
"While we are seeing early indicators that traveling local and Canadians staying close to home is going to be strong for the market, there are still some concerns on the horizon and I think consumers are waiting to see what's going to happen," he said.
Early booking boom for some businesses
For businesses like Somewhere Inn, the early indicators are still a welcome sign.
"It's pretty exciting," James said. "For not just the business but also our communities who are definitely going to benefit from the injection of tourists and travelers and locals wanting to stay more local this year."
Scott Clément said a tourism boost isn't something he and his siblings, Rachel and Nick Clément, expected when U.S. President Donald Trump first threatened Canada with tariffs and annexation.
The Cléments own Breathe Vacation Rentals, a short-term property management company serving Ontario and Western Quebec, and Sandbanks Vacations, a tour operator in Prince Edward County, Ont.
Across their business area, they manage about 150 individually owned properties, including some cottages at the East Lake Shores resort near Sandbanks Provincial Park.
Scott said bookings at the resort are up 87 per cent compared to last year.
"Early March it just really started taking off," he explained. "We had emails from people making sure we were a Canadian company that they were booking with."
For us, it's elbows up on policy... But we have to remain arms open. - Andrew Siegwart, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario
Ottawa Tourism has also noticed the shift in Canadians' attitudes to travel, however that hasn't yet led to more reservations for travel to the city.
"The question as to whether Canadians are turning their travel intentions to bookings is still something that remains to be seen," said Catherine Callary, vice president of destination development at Ottawa Tourism.
Siegwart said that's to be expected as people wait to see how U.S. tariffs affect their pocketbooks.
"I would imagine that families might be holding off on making travel decisions until they find out what's going to happen with their sectors and their employers."
Elbows up and 'arms open'
Despite economic and political uncertainties, Ottawa Tourism hopes that marketing efforts will enable it to benefit from more domestic tourism.
Ottawa typically receives about 9.8 million visitors per year, according to Callary. About 90 per cent of those travellers come from elsewhere in Canada.
"There's a lot of different tactics that we can use to incite travel to Ottawa and we will continue to do that throughout the summer," Callary said.
That includes continuing to welcome U.S. travellers.
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