Canada Vacation Rental Market Continues to Grow

Canadian spend on vacation rentals with CanadaStays, a  vacation rental marketplace, more than doubled in 2017, while the number of trips booked through their platform increased 74 percent as more Canadians look to alternative accommodations, the company said.

The value of trips taken grew from (CAN) $11 million in 2016 to more than $24 million in 2017, with larger group sizes and longer stays contributing to an 11 percent increase in average trip cost.

CanadaStays believes that much of the increase was fuelled by the rise in “staycations” for Canada’s 150th birthday last year. A weak Canadian dollar also contributed to more domestic bookings.

According to CanadaStays, the average trip grew from four to five nights, and it reported an 11% increase in American visitors to vacation rental properties throughout the country. Booking trends indicate that summer trips were booked 40-60 days before the date of travel, while winter bookings were made much earlier, 80-100 days in advance.

The company reported that 2017’s most popular Canadian destinations included major cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, but also featured many smaller destinations, including Blue Mountain, the Kawarthas and the Muskoka region in Ontario; Kelowna, Victoria and Canmore in Western Canada, and Mont Tremblant, Quebec.