Number of Canadians Visiting EU to Soar This Year, Travel Companies Say

According to a study by RATESDOTCA, the United Kingdom was the most popular destination for Canadians, as the increase in travel quotes showed an increase of 1832 per cent during the first quarter of 2022, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

Portugal follows this lead, with a 1727 per cent increase in 2022, while France marked a 632 per cent surge in travel quotes. However, the largest increase noticed was 2933 per cent for Italian destinations, whereas the number of Canadians recorded in Spain surged by 1344 per cent.

This surge can be attributed to numerous European countries lifting travel restrictions, which enables Canadians to travel to the EU free of entry and travel restrictions.

“Some places have suffered based on the lack of tourism over the last two years. As things open back up, you’ll find a lot of travel deals,” Tanisha Kishan, a RATESDOTCA expert, said.

As the study shows, all age groups, from the Silent Generation to Gen Z, are more interested in travelling this year than they were a year ago. The latter led with a 1,608 per cent surge, while Millennials’ 702 per cent increase made them the generation least likely to book a trip.

According to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), almost 122,000 people passed through the country’s eight largest airports on May 15, 2022, especially compared to 13,202 travellers recorded on the same day in 2021. The increase in travelling marks the beginning of a recovery for the pandemic-ravaged travel and tourism industry, RATESDOTCA noted.

However, the pre-pandemic data from Statistics Canada shows that France is the main European country that is mostly visited by Canadians. More specifically, in 2016, one million visits were recorded, with 12.3 million nights spent. As per spending, Canadians paid $1.3 billion for services offered in France. Other countries to follow on this list are Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

However, travelling during the pandemic changed for Canadians, as the number of international tourists to Canada dropped significantly. With 32.44 million tourists recorded in 2019, the rate dropped to merely 5.07 million in 2020 to a further drop to 4.28 million in 2021.

This means that the number of tourists to Canada dropped by 84 per cent in 2020 and almost 87 per cent compared to 2021. Numbers haven’t been this low almost ever, not even compared to a decade ago when 25.1 million tourists visited Canada.