What’s Looking Hot for Canada’s Cold Winter Season
by Judy Jacobs /With memories of last year’s brutal winter still fresh in their minds—along with an early cold snap in some parts of the country—Canadians are eager to head south for a winter sojourn.
Travel agents this year reported more interest from those clients in family and multi-generational travel, cruising, and packages to new destinations—especially those served by newly-introduced charter flights.
Most agents told Travel Market Report their bookings have increased this year.
“I booked my first winter vacation for clients for 2015 back in April,” said Mary Jane Hiebert, manager of Canada One Travel in Steinbach, Manitoba.
“Things are going really well, and I would say we’ll be up around 20% by the end of the season.”
New destinations
Costa Rica is drawing more attention, at least from Ontario’s travelers.
“There are more families going to Costa Rica, and in some instances it’s cousins and extended family members who have things in common and like active travel,” said April Clark, general manager of Vision Travel Solutions in Georgetown, Ontario.
“Costa Rica is finally getting it,” Clark said.
“When Costa Rica was first launched in the Canadian market it didn’t do great, but it’s the sixth year and finally making it. It’s just not about sitting on a beach. There’s so much to do, and the price point is attractive.”
Jamaica is the destination gaining ground in Calgary.
“I’ve seen quite a bit more people interested in Jamaica than they were last year. They’ve done Mexico and the Dominican Republic and they want another place with a direct flight,” said Coleen Calvert, owner of TravelMasters Calgary, an Ensemble agency.
“Sunwing started direct flights to Jamaica this year, and Transat went direct last year.”
A different Caribbean destination
Sharon Kendo, owner of Leisure Travel 2000 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has received many requests for Aruba recently and is not quite sure why, especially since there are no charter flights to the island out of Saskatoon, and travelers have to be routed through Toronto.
“People are looking for more places in the Caribbean than Cuba, Dominican and Jamaica,” she said. “They want new things, and Aruba seems to be the one this year.”
Kendo also said there’s steady demand for long-stay packages to Hawaii, Australia, Portugal, and Phoenix, since Canadian retirees want to get away for an extended period—anywhere from three weeks to six months.
Ixtapa is new this year out of Winnipeg and it’s expected to be popular. “It’s been 18 years since there have been direct flights out of Winnipeg to Ixtapa,” said Hiebert.
High-end FITs
Renshaw Travel & Cruise Concepts, a Virtuoso agency in Vancouver, concentrates on high-end FITs and villa vacations.
According to David Lowy, president, business is up, especially to destinations like Fiji, The Brando resort in French Polynesia and Andaz Papagayo in Costa Rica.
People who might normally visit Los Cabos but are put off by the recent Hurricane Odile, are going to Hawaii or Punta Mita, he said.
Although his agency doesn’t sell many trips to the Caribbean, it will be selling the new Four Seasons Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort. “It’s a game changer,” said Lowy.
Cruising gaining strength
Although not as popular in Canada as the U.S., cruising is growing.
“We are seeing a huge trend in cruising. We’ve been doing a lot of marketing with a cruise holiday, and we’ve seen some amazing pickup in this market,” said Clark.
“We do a massive amount of European river cruising and larger cruise ships in the Mediterranean.”
Cruise sales are up about 25% this year for her office, she said, adding that baby boomers are looking for something different than all-inclusive beach vacations.