Canada welcomed more than one million travellers in a single week for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to official data by Canada Border Service Agency, over one million travellers entered Canada during the week of April 11.
With Canada heading into its peak summer holiday season, Canadian tour operators are expecting an even greater number of travellers arriving in the country.
Canada’s tourism industry began to see an increase in the number of travellers and bookings after Ottawa dropped the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to present a negative Covid test starting in April.
Earlier, Canada had imposed some of the strictest border control measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
However, as border closures and travel restrictions are gradually being eased, the number of travellers visiting Canada is also slowly gathering pace.
The easing of border restrictions also saw Air Canada’s operating capacity increase by almost 3.5 times compared to the first quarter of 2021.
Moreover, Air Canada’s passenger revenues in the first quarter of 2022 was released to be $1.917 billion – nearly five times the revenue in the first quarter of 2021.
According to official data released in March, Canada’s tourism spending fell by 49 per cent in 2019 from 2020.
However, easing the travel restrictions resulted in a 4.4 per cent increase in tourism spending in 2021 to Can$50.8 billion.
The data also shows tourism accounted for 4.1 per cent of Canada’s GDP in 2021.
Although visitor numbers are still down by around 44 per cent compared to the April 15-17, 2019 period, it is expected to rise significantly as travel restrictions are eased further.
Industry insiders also claimed people are ready to spend more on Canadian tourism after being stuck at home for two years due to the pandemic.
