ACC e SS ible C AnADA

Downhill: Whistler will host the Invictus Games in 2025, which will be the first time the games will include winter sports. Whistler is known for its accessible tourism due to its adaptive programme that makes a range of activities available to people of all ages with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities or neurodiversity.

High rise: The Lake Louise Summer Sightseeing Gondola is ready to assist individuals with disabilities to enjoy the great views from an open chair or fully enclosed gondola. Passengers in a wheelchair or with a scooter are assisted in loading/unloading. Look out for grizzly bears roaming the alpine meadows.

Cityscape: Wheelchair users can now see Montréal from on high via a helicopter ride. HELICRAFT offers a 20- or 30-minute flight, offering the best views of the island city. Each trip includes views of the Olympic Stadium, Downtown Montréal, Mont Royal, Parc Jean Drapeau, the Jacques Cartier Bridge and Saint Lawrence River.

Shining light: One of Nova Scotia’s main tourist attractions, Peggy’s Cove, has become the first tourism site in Atlantic Canada to be awarded a Gold rating from the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility (RHFAC) programme, a national rating system in Canada that measures meaningful access to buildings and places. The viewing deck offers an accessible way to experience Peggy’s Cove. At the viewing deck is a fully accessible washroom, with large rooms and adult changing tables.

In short, Canada is in demand and visitors are starting to return to the country in impressive numbers.

By the close of 2022, it had welcomed 89% of the total number of visitors it had in 2019, with that pre-pandemic year the benchmark for healthy tourism figures.

And spending by tourists is around 78% of what it was in 2019.

“We are gaining momentum,” Marsha Walden, President and CEO for Destination Canada told Renedez-vous delegates in Québec City in late-May.

“We think we will pass our 2019 figures by late 2023 or early 2024,” she added, while noting that inflation is the “biggest threat impacting on tourism’s growth prospects”.

After the U.S., the UK is Canada’s most important market: UK visitors last year reached almost 60% of 2019 numbers and are predicted to surpass this in early 2025.

Canada’s heart is calling

Canada’s appeal is rooted in its abundant sense of space and landscapes that inspire not just a sense of awe but also a feeling of regeneration; a natural world that encourages open minds and fuels refreshed perspectives.

This is perhaps best summed up by Manitoba’s new tagline, Canada’s Heart is Calling, an epithet wrapped in a sentiment designed to capture how people feel when they holiday in the province.

Trade news

Destination Canada is further increasing its commitment to the trade through a range of activities this year.

It has joined forces with Selling Travel and Selling Canada in developing a brand-new digital Super Hub of Canada-only content, a platform that launched in early June. With new content being added on a regular basis, agents are encouraged to return regularly to sellingtravel.co.uk/hubs/selling-canada.

“We are delighted to offer agents this invaluable and essential resource that covers a huge range of destinations, experiences, activities and more,” said Adam Hanmer, Travel Trade Manager, Destination Canada. Also planned are various agent roadshows and additional rewards for agents signed up to its Canada Travel Specialist Programme (CSP).

Destination Canada will be meeting agents at roadshows in Bristol (October 4) and Bournemouth (October 5) and there are plans afoot for more events in December.

Planned for next year is the addition of an ‘Elite Level’ tier to the CSP. Hanmer says this will be made up of around 20 top-selling agents, based on their revenues when booking Canada in 2023.

The Elite qualification will last for two years and added benefits for agents will include a bespoke overnight training event and access to two unique Fam trips.

Canada’s fast track

To qualify agents will need to submit their bookings stats at the end of this year.

The revamped CSP Programme features improved digital access for agents that makes the training mobile friendly, fam trip opportunities and training Webinars.

“I’m excited that we will be better supporting our top bookers this year and in 2024, with added value and more opportunities to increase their Canada knowledge”, said Hanmer.

“We’ve been training agents for over 40 years...and the information is continually updated. We’ve added regular webinars covering a wide range of Canadian tourism experiences, which have been receiving great feedback. And we are now taking a large number of qualified agents back to experience Canada in person.”

What’s new Tour Operators: Prestige Travel released its largest-ever Canada programme in late June. The 168-page brochure includes new products in Atlantic Canada and the Yukon and more self-drive tour itineraries and guided hiking tours, Agents making bookings in July qualify for a series of vouchers that can be as high as £100, depending on the value of the booking, and are also entered into a prize draw for a place on a fam trip to Canada.

A separate incentive, applying to bookings made from June 1 to October 16 2023, gives agents the chance to win a £10,000 holiday, which they can use on any Prestige holiday either in Canada or beyond. prestigetravel.co.uk

First Class Holidays has a new Toronto and the Northern Lights package that takes advantage of the Air Canada flight between Toronto and Yellowknife (Northwest Territories) that starts in December. The seven-night package features both cities, a range of activities and includes flights from Heathrow. It is priced from £2,499pp. (January departures). fcholidays.com attractions: Onhwa’ Lumina is a new experience that opened this summer close to the Hôtel-Musée Premières Nations in Wendake, a short distance from Québec City. Visitors get to meet the Huron-Wendat