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Globe and Mail
19-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Tourism operators anticipate a strong summer as more Canadians avoid U.S. travel
Canadian tourism businesses and associations are expecting a busy summer as more people opt to travel within the country rather than head south of the border. Although it is too early for comprehensive data for summer bookings, the industry buzz is positive with travel reservations across Canada appearing equal to or higher than last year. 'There's no question that Canadians are choosing not to travel to United States. Just like they're choosing not to buy American products,' said Andrea Mandel-Campbell, founder of Karibu Adventures, an Edmonton-based tour operator that organizes tours across Canada and abroad. Ms. Mandel-Campbell said conditions are similar to those during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Canadians had to stay home and had limited travel options. 'So we are seeing Canadians rethink, 'Okay, this is an opportunity to go to the places in Canada that I've always wanted to go to or I am curious about,'' she said. The current tensions between Canada and the U.S., amid President Donald Trump's trade war and 51st-state rhetoric, are fuelling the demand for more domestic travel. Canadians are also facing a weaker dollar, rising travel insurance costs and unpredictable U.S. border policies. Darren Reeder, president and chief executive officer of Tourism Industry Association of Alberta, said these factors 'are making domestic travel more appealing.' 'Travel Alberta has reported strong early demand signals, particularly in the mountain parks and resort regions,' he said in an e-mail. Key indicators such as hotel bookings, campsite reservations and attraction ticket sales are tracking ahead of 2024 in many areas of the province, he added. Andrew Siegwart, president and CEO of Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, echoed this sentiment, saying around 60 per cent of Ontario tour operators surveyed by TIAO reported that bookings look the same or higher than last year. However, Mr. Siegwart said some Ontarians are still being cautious about pre-bookings, opting to wait until closer to their travel dates because of uncertainty about the unstable economic and political situation. 'When things are uncertain, you wait to spend until you're ready,' he said. 'I think that that tighter booking window will likely remain until such time as things get more stable.' Operators in the cottage region of Muskoka north of Toronto are seeing an increase of between 10 and 15 per cent in bookings for the summer compared with last year, said Val Hamilton, executive director at Muskoka Tourism, adding that website visits from U.S. residents interested in planning trips are three times higher than last year. A survey conducted by Context Research Group in March showed 87 per cent of Ontarians reported they are likely to take a trip within their province, and only 27 per cent are likely to travel to their southern neighbour. The survey found 84 per cent believe other provinces or territories are welcoming to Ontario travellers, while 29 per cent believe U.S. residents are welcoming. The unfavourable exchange rate and a general anti-Canadian sentiment were cited as the two biggest discouraging factors for avoiding U.S. travel by 58 per cent and 53 per cent of Ontarians respectively, according to the survey. Canadians' return trips from the U.S. by car have already been falling this year. Statistics Canada reported a 35.2-per-cent drop in Canadian residents returning by car in April compared with a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive month of declines. Airlines have also seen a drop in U.S.-bound flights, while domestic summer bookings are showing modest growth. Data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, indicate a 3-per-cent increase in domestic air travel bookings for the months of June, July and August compared with last year, while U.S.-bound bookings for the same period are down around 22 per cent. Summer bookings from Montreal to Miami International Airport and from Vancouver to New York's LaGuardia Airport are both down 53 per cent, while bookings from Montreal to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport are down 79 per cent, Cirium said. Within Canada, routes from Montreal to Calgary and Toronto registered the highest increase for summer bookings at 16 per cent, followed by Calgary to Montreal at 13 per cent. Canada's two largest airlines are trying to adapt to the winds of change. Air Canada said in March it would cut flights to the U.S. by 10 per cent for the next six months. Michael Rousseau, president and CEO of Air Canada, told analysts during a conference call on May 9 that the company is seeing higher booking demand for domestic Canadian destinations, as well as routes to Europe, Japan, Thailand and Australia, while bookings have declined 'in the low teens on average over the next six months' for the U.S. market. WestJet Airlines Ltd. announced last week it is suspending nine routes due to reduced demand between Canada-U.S. destinations from May through October. Routes affected include Vancouver-Austin, Winnipeg-Los Angeles and Edmonton-Chicago. In an e-mail to The Globe and Mail, WestJet reported a 'slightly downward shift' in cross-border bookings while observing a rise in demand for local destinations as well as for Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe. The airline has expanded both national and international flight routes. For Ms. Mandel-Campbell, travelling across Canada is a way for people to make plans without waiting to see how things turn out in the trade war. 'There's this feeling like we're not going to wait and potentially lose an opportunity. We want to live, have these experiences and travel while we can.'
CBC
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
P.E.I. tourism industry hopes new animated Anne series will bring back Japanese visitors
The number of Japanese visitors to P.E.I. has never returned to the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, but some tourism operators hope a new animated series about Anne of Green Gables — and the attention it's getting in Japan — will help. The new Anne Shirley anime series continues the story beyond Anne of Green Gables, into the next two books in the series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It begins airing in April on the NHK network. "A lot of travel agent is doing a promotion tying up with the this new anime series," said Katsue Matsuda, who has guided Japanese visitors on the Island for decades with P.E.I. Select Tours. "So hopefully we have more Japanese tourist this year." Chie Miyamoto visited Green Gables Heritage Place during a brief visit to the Island in early February. Matsuda helped translate her comments from Japanese. "When her daughter was little, she bought at Anne of Green Gables book for her. So she's glad to see more people will see the Anne of Green Gables," Matsuda translated. "She told her friends she's coming to P.E.I. and see Anne of Green Gables, and a lot of her friends envy her ... Maybe with this new animation series, and maybe more interest, they would love to come to see Anne of Green Gables in person." Bestseller in Japan Anne of Green Gables was first translated into Japanese and published in Japan in 1952. It went on to become a bestseller, and a 1979 animated version of Anne was also very popular. "It was a big impact for children in Japan," Matsuda said. "And so still we have lots of customers that they grew up with that anime series." Prince Edward Island was for many decades a popular destination for Japanese visitors. Tourism P.E.I. reports Japan is second only to the U.S. for international visitors to the Island. The numbers started to decline in 2014, and Tourism P.E.I. launched several campaigns in the hopes of attracting more Japanese visitors, including one connected to a television series about Hanako Muraoka, who translated Anne. But it's been especially tough for companies that specialize in travellers from Japan since the COVID-19 pandemic. "The last five years it was very, very low and last year, some came back maybe still 30 percent of 2019," Matsuda said. "So it was not really great. So this year, hopefully we can get a little bit more people." 'Hopefully it's gonna be huge' The Island's tourism industry is also hoping the animated series will give Japanese numbers a boost. "Traditionally, the Japanese market was really, really strong ... We haven't quite seen that rebound post pandemic, but certainly an important market for us," said Corryn Clemence with the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island. Canadian tourism officials are predicting that spending by Japanese travellers will rebound in 2025, reaching above 2019 levels, and that visitation will have fully recovered by 2026. In a statement, Tourism P.E.I. said Anne of Green Gables is a key piece of the Island's overall tourism draw, and it's hoped the new series helps create more awareness of P.E.I. as a travel destination. Clemence, for one, will be watching to see how the series impacts tourism. It'll be certainly interesting to hear from Parks Canada and some of our Green Gables operators if they're getting some inquiries and some interest —Corryn Clemence, Tourism Industry Association of PEI "I'll be reaching out to our tourism department to see if they're seeing any spikes in visitation for online visits to the website, kind of those kind of traffic indicators," Clemence said. "It'll be certainly interesting to hear from Parks Canada and some of our Green Gables operators if they're getting some inquiries and some interest. We'd love to see that market grow." The company making the show is planning a series of events featuring the cast, as well as promotions in bookstores, to help build up buzz before the debut in P.E.I. tourism officials hope that buzz will have a ripple effect in Prince Edward Island. "Anne of Green Gables is always loved by a lot of Japanese people and the first anime series was a big success and this one will be bigger, I hope," Matsuda said.
