“All kinds of people had credit for things that had been cancelled in 2020 and 2021, especially cruise lines.” Those vouchers and travel credit are now spent.
Millennials—who now outnumber baby boomers in Canada—and gen Z together comprise more than half of all passengers, according to FlightHub. They cited family visits as the biggest reason for air travel over the holidays, which helps explain the domestic turn.
Overseas, the capitals of the Philippines and India—Manila and New Delhi—saw some of the highest booking numbers from Canada between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1, according to FlightHub.
“They tend to be returning to see family and friends too,” said Rahbani. Meanwhile, leisure-heavy trips to some sun destinations have plateaued.
Top U.S. destinations remain popular
Despite the shift toward domestic travel, many broad patterns remain in place. For those venturing south, New York City, Florida and California remain the top destinations across virtually all age groups.
“It’s stabilized,” said Richard Vanderlubbe, founder of travel agency Tripcentral.ca, referring to travel habits generally. But that similarity to 2023 is itself a big change from recent years, which saw wild swings in customer volumes as COVID-19 restrictions came and went.
While passenger numbers at Canada’s eight largest airports rose 4% year-over-year in October, that only slightly outpaced population growth, according to Statistics Canada. And the 5% increase in air travellers since 2019 fell short of the 10% growth in population over that period, meaning volumes are down on a per capita basis.
Nearly a quarter of FlightHub’s customers said they budgeted between $1,000 and $2,000 for holiday travel. Another 22 per cent set aside between $500 and $1,000, and most of the rest socked away less than $500.
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