Canadians return home for vacations as weak loonie discourages travel to U.S.
An Air Canada plane takes off from Montreal Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport, in Montreal, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. An Air Canada plane takes off from Montreal Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport, in Montreal, Montreal, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.
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MONTREAL - Barry Choi has noticed that the number of seats occupied on some of his flights has decreased over the past year. French To be continued - More homeless people are turning to makeshift shelters as winter approaches in Saskatchewan
"People are traveling a little less," said Choi, who runs the personal finance and travel website Money We Have, which makes him fly every four to six weeks.
He wouldn't have predicted this trend two years ago, when the desire to leave was almost palpable after COVID-19 border closures ended and air travel became possible.
"Because of this suppressed demand from the pandemic, people have been packing up their trips. In 2022, I feel like everyone was traveling. Everyone was saying, 'I have to get out.'"
"Some people waited until 2023, but this year everyone has calmed down a little bit," he said. That trend is expected to continue in December and January. After vacationing abroad last year, more Canadians are holding back on their domestic travel plans this Christmas season due to tight budgets, lower domestic fares and the eventual end of the post-pandemic overseas travel boom — and now a weakening currency.
The number of Canadian flights to the United States in December is expected to decline 2.5% from last year, according to figures from aviation tracking company Cirium.
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Meanwhile, domestic flight capacity is expected to increase by nearly 10% this month compared to December 2023.
The additional flight capacity north of the border has helped keep prices down even as demand increases, with Canadian fares 20% lower than a year ago in September, the last month Cirium had data available.
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