The stars are aligning for Canadian visitations to Britain to hit record numbers and pass the magic million mark – even as soon as next year – but VisitBritain says its trade partners are a critical component of the journey and a key to the destination’s success.

“We’re only going to be able to deliver (a million Canadian visitors) if we get the strength of the working relationship with the travel agents and the tour operators,” VisitBritain Chairman Nick de Bois told attendees at the recent Destination Britain North America (DBNA) event in San Francisco.

To that end, he says VisitBritain is “rolling the pilot out to build and strengthen that relationship, because for people to want to come to us is one thing, (but) then to know how to come to us, where to come us, and when to come to us, we have to play our part in educating the people on the ground with the offers as they develop.”

VisitBritain International Director Gavin Landry notes that with the turnover of the travel trade during the pandemic years, and so many new travel agents coming into the industry, education is more important than ever.

“Roughly a third of Canadian travel advisors did not return after the pandemic – a third!” Landry told Travel Industry Today. “So, what that’s meant to us is that we’ve had to switch to a priority for education, and educating the trade and educating these new folks that are coming in; working with people that now have more workload than they had in the past because they’re handling multiple markets… (And) there’s a lot more at-home agents.

“It’s not unlike the airlines, how many pilots they lost during the pandemic – I think it was 6,000 pilots in North America alone. But particularly when it comes to the travel advisor and the tour operator community, what that means is that you have people who are younger that are advisors, possibly less well travelled, and it puts the premium on our need to educate them.”

Trade workshop

With this in mind, Landry says VisitBritain Canada is planning a four-city trade workshop in Ontario from Nov. 13 to 16, inviting travel advisors to engage with VisitBritain and key in-market tour operators, as well as tourism officials from VisitWales and VisitScotland. The key objective is to empower and educate the travel agents to help them sell Britain better to their clients. While more details are to come, key cities will include Kingston, Ajax, Barrie, and London, with plans to roll out the sessions across Canada at later dates.

“It’s the first of its kind (for VisitBritain),” says Landry. “Lynda Falcone (VB’s travel trade manager for Canada) is pioneering this approach and it’s literally a travel advisor/tour operator education program, and that’s our response to what we’ve seen of the travel advisor community not returning after COVID.”

Meanwhile, VisitBritain’s travel specialist program is currently being redeveloped, adds Paul Gauger, Exec. VP Americas, Australia & NZ, who notes advisors can still access VB’s trade web site for help/information.

Landry is quick to acknowledge the value of travel advisors to Britain, particularly compared to online travel agencies.

“One of the things we do know from the data that we have,” he says, “is that there’s a correlation between the amount of money people spend on a holiday and their tendency to use an advisor… The more money you spend, the more likely you are to use an advisor because it’s an investment… because if you are spending $5,000 on a holiday, that’s going to make you want to use an advisor and have somebody who knows the product and can you give you added value with your experience.”

Regional development

A key educational theme for VisitBritain is to promote exploring the destination outside of London – a “spread the wealth” initiative that Landry says fits ideally with VisitBritain’s commitment to sustainability, including “doing no damage to the culture (through overcrowding in one place).”

Fortunately, discovering Britain’s nooks and crannies outside the capital is a notion to which Canadians have historically always been well disposed. “Canadians,” Gauger says, “are much more adventurous, much more curious. And they’re not just driving, they take the trains.”

And while Landry notes that air capacity from Canada to the UK has returned to 90% of pre-pandemic levels, it is important that gateways include cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh, not just London.

“What also helps us is that the other (non-Canadian) carriers, like Aer Lingus, go Toronto-Dublin to Newcastle, Bristol, Southampton even; and KLM through Amsterdam flies through to Birmingham,” says Canadian marketing and communications manager Cathy Stapells. “So those carriers… linking to some of our second cities, fits in with our regional approach.”

Canadian perspective

Tour operators canvassed by Travel Industry Today at DBNA agreed that not only is their Britain business booming, but that clients are showing an inclination to travel further afield.

Elvi Cal of TravelBrands says London is still No. 1 for the tour operator, but they’ve been seeing demand this summer for regional destinations such as the Cotswolds, Lake District, and for Scotland.

Other trends, he says, include higher spend (including business class and four- and five-star hotels) and a lot of last-minute bookings.

At RIT (Royal Irish Tours), Conor Duffy says the company is on pace for its best year ever to the UK with demand carrying forward to 2024. He notes that clients are staying longer, prompting some tours to be extended in length (from seven to 11 days, for example), and that the RIT is adding product to meet demand for new places and “something different” – such as the Scottish Borders; Wales – “that’s a big one!”; and plans for a Devon and Cornwall itinerary in 2025. All are ideal for return visitors to Britain, he says, after spending time in “always popular” London.

At Burlington, Ont.-based UK specialist DHTour, Stephanie Mayes says garden tours are a big hit, so much so that they usually sell out six months in advance, prompting her to advise, “book early.”

Also popular: cooking classes, regional destinations like Bristol and Cornwall, private touring, and longer stays for clients.

“Our biggest thing now,” she says, “is people want personal experiences and new itineraries.”

And that’s all music to the ears of chairman de Bois, who says, “We’ve asked (via survey) and 50 to 60% of people can’t imagine Britain outside of London, and that can be quite a challenge. But I think Canadians can imagine Britain outside of London – Scotland (for example) has a terrific appeal. And that’s why I’m so confident about Canadian growth. We, obviously want regional growth, and Canada is kind of, ‘Okay, we’re ready and waiting to hear your offer.”