Ontario’s tourism industry is enjoying a surprise surge in reservations. This boom is occurring even during the continued trade hostilities between Canada and the U.S. As notable signs of recovery go, Sarah Fox, executive director of Visit The County, near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, mentions a happier trend. This trend can be seen all over the country.
Reservations are surging for Nick and Sarah Fox, siblings and co-owners of Wildwood Escapes, an eco-friendly tour and short-term vacation rental company. All that hard work is definitely paying off! Business owners Rachel and Scott Clément, who manage approximately 100 cottages near Sandbanks Provincial Park, have experienced a significant uptick in bookings, alleviating their initial concerns.
The Cléments have managed the cottages since December. That was the month in which U.S. President Donald Trump signed the first tariff order, beginning a trade war with our friends to the north. Much to their relief, those fears were misplaced, and the couple has experienced a booming demand for their homes since the door was opened to new competition.
In Picton, Ontario, Sol Korngold, general manager of The Royal Hotel, was on the same wavelength. “We were concerned we were going to lose bookings,” Scott Clément expressed. But Korngold is seeing a boom in bookings. They’re experiencing a staggering jump of 25 to 30 percent over this same period last year.
Scott Clément is looking forward to another busy season for Canada’s largest tourism hotspot and for smaller communities alike. He points to a host of reasons for them to be optimistic. Andrew Siegwart, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, speaks to this confidence. He’s the first to admit that some firms will have a slow go out of the gate, but the future is still shining bright.
“As much as the ‘elbows up’ policy is needed, equally as much is the arms open on hospitality,” said Siegwart.
April Brown, co-owner of the popular June Motel boutique – like I said, Picton is full of wonderful things – has seen it, too. Her bookings are actually up—by a little over 10 percent—from March 2019. Brown runs other June Motel outposts in Sauble Beach and Beaver Valley, Ontario. He adds that travelers are booking earlier this year than they did last.
Tourism operators across Ontario’s renowned destinations have been bracing for potential fallout from U.S.-Canada tensions. Instead, they’re seeing a surprising surge in demand. Early returns from short-term vacation rental markets—particularly on platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO—indicate promising forecasts. In fact, they are expecting at least a 30 to 40 percent increase in bookings for next summer over this summer.
Janice Thomson, the CEO of Niagara Falls Tourism, has seen a flood of homegrown visitors. Like many Canadians, Canadians are having fun rediscovering their national pride. Niagara Falls usually welcomes 12 million visitors from around the globe annually. This past year, though, it’s been riding the wave of an unexpected wave of local tourism.
Sarah Fox emphasizes that uncertainties remain. “There’s no crystal ball that’s going to tell us exactly how things are going to work out and there is a very real possibility of a looming recession,” she cautioned.
