By Michael Baginski/ Travel remains strong in 2025, according to a new survey of Nexion Travel Group (NTG) members in Canada, who report that factors such as global uncertainty, political tensions between the U.S. and Canada, as well as a weaker loonie and economic distrust, have affected where – but not whether – Canadians are travelling this year.
So far in the new year, the overwhelming majority of members of the Nexion (rhymes with “connection”) host agency surveyed say they have seen no slowdown in bookings or cancellations of travel plans.
“Canadian clients are cancelling U.S. trips,” noted Jackie Friedman, President, Nexion Travel Group, at a luncheon in downtown Toronto with a select group of media last week, but “they are booking domestic or international vacations instead.”
A Toronto native who is “here all the time,” Dallas-based Friedman was joined at the meeting by new Nexion Canada director of operations, Esther Roemmele, who in part replaced long-time organizational stalwart Mike Foster after he retired at the end of 2024.
Together, they enthused about the growth the host agency, which now counts about 600 members across the country (excluding Quebec), up from its initial counts of about 20 when launched in Canada a dozen years ago.
Friedman says it’s a “great community” of advisors, who serve as one of the host agency’s greatest strengths.
And as a U.S.-based organization (owned by Internova Travel Group and a sister company to Travel Leaders Network), she adds, “We offer the best of both worlds, including business development from both sides of the border.”
She observes that many of the Canadian members live near the border and serve clients on both sides.
On the Canadian side, right now, Friedman names Mexico, the Caribbean (most notably the Dominican Republic and Jamaica), and Europe, as the biggest winners in Canadians’ changing altered travel habits, along with exotic trips, which come with a higher price tag to offset softer volume in short-stay vacations.
Advisors who took part in the Nexion survey are also reporting a number of last-minute bookings for river cruises in Europe, as clients seek to avoid sailing out of cruise ports in the U.S.
Moreover, cruise bookings in general are up 8%.
And while many clients say they are afraid to cross the U.S. border for fear of how they will be treated, when they do change their travel plans, the reasons cited most often include geopolitical concerns (58%), economic uncertainty (47%), and currency conversion (45%).
However, travel advisors indicated that these factors have not significantly impacted their overall business activity. And as for cross-border travel, Friedman says, “we do think people will come back (to the U.S.) when things are stable.”
When asked to describe the age range of the majority of their clients, nearly half of survey respondents indicated they were from 46 to 60 years old; 25% said the majority were age 61 or older; and nearly 30% said most of their clients were between 31 and 45 years old.
“We understand from this survey of (80 of) our Canadian members that there are broader concerns affecting travel,” said Friedman. “(But) despite those issues, Nexion travel advisors are still seeing steady demand from their leisure and business clients, who are planning and booking a variety of trips.”
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