While coach travel has gradually resumed over the past year, the situation is different for group tours organized abroad. The removal of the requirement for a mandatory screening test to enter Canada as of the 1er April could, however, mark the beginning of a real recovery.
Posted at 2:57 p.m.
“We see the wave coming at high speed,” predicts the sales and marketing director of Tours Chanteclerc, Marie-Eve Bédard. She said Ottawa’s lifting of the advisory earlier this week asking Canadians to avoid cruises and the end of mandatory COVID-19 testing for all fully vaccinated travelers will be “a big difference” in supply and demand for organized group tours. Several tour operators, including Tours Chanteclerc, were waiting for this announcement to relaunch their group tours abroad.
“The reality of an individual trip and that of a group trip are totally different, especially in the current context, notes M.me Bedard. In a group trip of two or three days to New York, for example, where you have to plan time for the tests of 30 or 40 people, it complicates the organization. »
Despite these constraints, some tour operators have organized tours outside of Canada in recent months. Voyages Gendron has resumed its coach tours in the United States, at maximum capacity, and relaunched its ski trips in Europe a few weeks ago. “We have reached a hundred departures [Canada et États-Unis] planned for the coming season, underlines Marc-Olivier Gagné, director of digital development. We’re starting to add more trips to New York. We packed a bus for Washington to see the cherry blossoms in early April. There is interest. It’s starting to make itself felt more and more. »
On board the bus, wearing a mask is compulsory and the passenger compartment is disinfected twice a day. “Since we resumed group travel, we have had no positive cases,” says Jonathan Gloutnay, director of coach travel at Voyages Gendron.
Despite the announcement on Thursday of the withdrawal of mandatory screening tests to enter Canada, it could take weeks before a real resumption of international supply is felt. “For the spring, we have already canceled our departures because it was still too uncertain,” says Marie-Eve Bédard.
” People [qui voyagent en groupe] like to plan more in advance, adds the president of Groupe Voyages Québec, Laurent Plourde. There will be departures this spring, but we can think of a return closer to 2019 in the fall. »
Another factor adding uncertainty: the war in Ukraine which dampens the enthusiasm of many travelers for Europe. “The majority of our departures in the spring for Europe will not take place because we do not have enough travelers to make these trips leave,” said Marie-Eve Bédard, from Tours Chanteclerc. At Groupe Voyages Québec, tours in Eastern Europe are on hold.
As for Asia, the demand is not there yet. For spring and summer, tour operators are therefore still relying heavily on Canadian destinations. “Western Canada is extremely popular this summer,” observes Laurent Plourde. We add departures almost every week. »
“We see that people want to have a certain security, even if they are just traveling to Canada,” said Ms.me Bedard. They are looking for the security of having a companion, with the pandemic and the changes in protocol. »
With the cloud of uncertainty yet to fully dissipate, tour operators continue to offer customers flexible cancellation policies. “We had to relaunch several times for two years, I really hope that this time will be the right one”, hopes Laurent Plourde.
Expected price increases
With the increase in the price of fuel, an increase in the cost of travel by coach and plane is to be expected. In an article published last Monday in The PressKayak’s General Manager and Vice President for North America, Paul Jacobs, said he believes “travel prices will be high for the summer due to demand and more limited capacity as well as a additional pressure due to rising fuel prices”.
An opinion shared by Marc-Olivier Gagné, of Voyages Gendron. “We are adjusting [les prix]. The cost of travel is likely to increase post-pandemic due to the price of gasoline. »