It’s official: the Canadian travel industry is booming once again. Just ask Erminia Nigro, general manager of sales in Ontario for Air Canada Vacations.
“It’s absolutely insane!” she laughed. “We’re very excited about it, because travel is definitely coming back. We thought it would take longer, but that’s not the case. We just keep upping our frequency and aircraft size.”
With Air Canada resuming its services from 52 gateways across Canada, it’s clear that the industry is enjoying a healthy rebound following some harsh travel restrictions. And with the resumption of domestic services from coast to coast, there are plenty of convenient feeder routes into the main hub airports for onward travel.
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“We’re also encouraging travel agents to book now because we’re seeing booking trends of way beyond 90 days. We can’t keep up with the demand, which is certainly a good thing after everything we’ve been through, so we’re working harder than ever.”
It’s a trend that’s being felt in-resort too, as Heidi Verschaeve, VP of sales for North America at Sandos Hotels & Resorts, explained: “Our Canadian fans are coming back to Mexico! And there is an interesting pattern because Canadians usually don’t travel to Mexico much in the summer, but this year they definitely are.”
“And what’s brand new this year is that we are also seeing a lot of people looking at their Christmas and New Year holidays.”
“It’s Christmas already for Canadian travellers! It would be very risky this year to wait for that amazing last minute deal, because you’re probably not going to find it.”
Multi-gen Travellers
Nigro has also noticed an increase in multigenerational family groups, especially to Sandos Playacar on the Mayan Riviera, which she puts down to the resort’s clever targeting of niche markets.
Located on one of the most amazing beaches on the Riviera Maya, the property offers both family-friendly and adult-only sections, as well as a unique ‘All Playa Experience’ that enables guests to choose the mood they’re in each day – ‘Chill’ mode or ‘Activity’ mode – and then curate their activities to suit their mood that day.
That’s a big reason why Sandos Playacar is part of Air Canada Vacations’ Family Collection, which showcases the best all-inclusive family resorts with dedicated kids’ pools and supervised clubs.
The collection also offers discounts for kids and all the perks of its ‘Play’ program, such as pre-boarding for families and opportunities for kids to eat, play and stay for free.
Added Peace of Mind
Nigro also enthused about the tools Air Canada Vacations has put in place to help Canadian travel agents close a sale.
“There’s very little risk for clients who want to go ahead and book,” she explained. “The CareFlex program remains in place, so they can pretty much cancel and they’ll be protected with a refund or an FTC.
“Sandos Playacar is also part of our Group Care program because we are seeing more multigenerational groups. You have so much flexibility that you can make changes up to seven days before.”
The CareFlex plan provides clients with greater flexibility by allowing them to change their booking, transfer their package or cancel their reservation with a full refund up to 21 days prior to departure – or with a travel credit up to three days prior to departure.
Alternatively, the CareFree plan makes travelling less stressful by providing standard seat selection and Air Canada Vacations’ Price Drop Guarantee.
And the Group Care program allows groups of up to 30 cancel and receive a full refund or make penalty-free changes up to 22 days before departure; or groups of 60 to cancel and receive a full refund or make penalty-free changes up to 60 days before departure.
“We’re here to help the travel agent close a sale, so we have all this security in place to make the consumer feel comfortable enough to go live that dream of travelling – especially as they haven’t done it in the past two years!”
There are also some fabulous promotions in place for the coming winter season, with the operator offering savings of up to $1000 per family, as well as $50 deposits for group travel.
