GO CANADA: Eased border measures lure travellers

Canadians looking for a long-awaited holiday aren’t the only ones now taking advantage of this country’s eased border measures, which kicked in Monday. According to a new data from KAYAK, international searches for travellers wanting to come to the country spiked in February after the announcement.

In fact, travel searches to Canada spiked 57% between Feb. 15 and Feb. 22 for future travel, indicating eased testing requirements are luring international travellers to the Great White North, the first chance they can get, says the search engine.

Data from KAYAK shows the top cities planning to visit Canada include Washington (20%), Munich (43%), San Diego (42%), Amsterdam (41%) and Hamburg (40%). After over two years of travel restrictions, residents in the US and Germany are the most eager to experience Canada.

“The search increases we’re seeing indicates pent up demand for Canadian tourism and illustrates the impact entry restrictions have on inbound travel,” said Matt Clarke, VP of Marketing at KAYAK. “We’ve consistently seen that as travel restrictions ease travel demand follows and we expect to see this continue through summer.”