TORONTO — Over 13,700 one-to-one connections were logged at Virtuoso’s hugely successful ‘On Tour Canada’ show, which took place earlier this month in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

The series brought together a total of 221 travel advisors and 179 partners, starting in Vancouver on April 3-4 at The DOUGLAS, an Autograph Collection Hotel, then Montreal on April 11-12 at The Ritz-Carlton, Montréal, and finally in Toronto on April 13-14 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Toronto.

‘On Tour Canada’ featured networking appointments, professional development courses and discussions on traveller trends and complimentary professional headshots, of which nearly 300 were taken.

Travel advisors were also updated on Canadian outbound leisure spending projections for the next four years. According to Tourism Economics, outbound travel will reach 100% of 2019 levels in the second quarter of 2024, and climb steadily to 156% by the end of 2026. Virtuoso advisors and preferred partners were particularly optimistic about the year-over-year growth projections of 27.2% in 2023, 21.8% in 2024, and 18% in 2025.

“Based on a global consumer survey completed by YouGov, Virtuoso-advised travellers plan to spend 3.4 times more than do-it-yourself travellers, and 2.7 times more than other advised travellers. Two-week cruises are 150% more popular among Virtuoso travellers than non-Virtuoso travellers, and average hotel stays are 50% longer,” said Úna O’Leary, Virtuoso’s General Manager, Canada.

Denise Harper, Virtuoso Canada’s Director, Partner Relations, also indicated that the first quarter of 2023 has already shown considerable increases over 2019’s numbers.

“Hotel sales are 68% higher than first quarter results in 2019. Ancillary services such as insurance and car rentals are not far behind at 60%, and on-site and cruise sales are also strong at 50% and 10%, respectively,” said Harper.

For more information go to www.Virtuoso.com.