Canada Visitor Numbers Continues To Rise

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. October 14, 2008

OTTAWA, Canada, September 9, 2005. The latest June 2005 figures published by Statistics Canada, reveal a 9.5% increase in the June traffic on 2004, whilst the January to June figures show a healthy 7.5% increase.

Operators are sounding positive for this summer. Product Director, Peter Allen at Travelpack said, "The summer has again been very strong for us with a push for last minute bookings and we are up 12% on bookings. The autumn is looking very busy with early bookers getting their bookings in earlier this year to make sure they get the holiday they wanted for autumn foliage, cooler weather and lower prices. Western Canada for Escorted Tours, Rail Tours and Fly/Drives, both planned by us or Tailormade are the most popular with Rocky Mountaineer being a real winner this year.

Canada's East and Quebec have grown 11% over the year and Ontario, in particular Toronto and Niagara Falls packages has seen a steady growth of 13%. Our growth rates may seem natural growth levels but you have to consider we had a massive 35% increase in business last year and 20% in 20003, so to sustain such growth levels would not be realistic".

Kathryn Munro at Canadian Affair said, " It has been a fantastic summer, all our routes have performed to our expectations and our growth has matched our capacity increase, the west coast of Canada has been particularly strong with the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast being two outstanding draws. Growth in ground sales has continually exceeded 50%. More people are taking up tailor made holidays and adding excursions and activities than before. Our commitment to delivering the lowest prices for air fares, hotel accommodation, car hire, tours and excursions are testimony to this"

Zoom meanwhile increased the frequency of flights and the number of destinations served from various regional airports throughout summer 2005 to cater for the high level of localised demand in the first year of operation.

Belfast, Cardiff and Manchester were introduced this year and have proved to be extremely popular with the travelling public. The Gatwick service continues to operate flights to all eight Canadian destinations that Zoom flies to and flights from Glasgow serve five of the most popular routes.

Debbie Marshall, UK Director of Zoom Airlines, said: "We have been delighted at the success of our summer 2005 programme and as such are planning on expanding our service offerings for 2006. I am delighted to have achieved such high demand from regional passengers across the UK.

"When we first started operating in 2004, we offered flights from two UK airports to six Canadian cities and now we offer flights from five UK hubs to eight Canadian destinations. This is testament to the popularity of our flights and Canada as a holiday destination. Zoom will continue to offer a high quality, low cost scheduled service across the Atlantic."

The level of bookings received for Winter 2005/2006 flights has been phenomenal and Zoom predicts this to continue throughout the season. Zoom flights proved extremely popular within the British ski and snowboard market last year and as such, Zoom have introduced Calgary to their service offering with a weekly flight from Gatwick and Manchester. Winter flights will operate from Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester and Cardiff to various destinations including Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax, Toronto and Montreal. Zoom Airlines are also pleased to be working with a number of leading ski tour operators including Inghams, Crystal, Neilson, Ski Independence, Skiworld and Ski Miquel.

For more media information please contact Ms. Nim Singh, Canadian Tourism Commission on 0207 389 9983 [email protected]