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Canadians itching to travel eye Italy, Toronto as next vacation spots

Last Updated Aug 4, 2021 at 8:13 am MDT

Arriving passengers walk past a sign in the arrivals area at Heathrow Airport in London, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, during England’s third national lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak began. The British government are on Tuesday expected to discuss whether to force some travellers arriving in the UK to quarantine in hotels to try to curb the spread of coronavirus. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

OTTAWA – With travel restrictions slowly easing around the world, Canadians hungry to travel are picking their next vacation destinations.

A report from Google Trends indicates that Toronto is top of the list for people not quite ready to travel outside of Canada.

“One of the benefits of this pandemic is that Canadians have an increased appreciation for what their own communities and regions have to offer travellers,” said Gloria Loree, CMO of Destinations Canada in the report.

Vancouver was second on the list and Calgary rounded out the top three.


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Google also saw an increase in searches for travel to Montreal, Niagara Falls, Edmonton, Quebec City, Whistler, Banff, and Ottawa.

Several of these cities also made the list of which Canadian destinations international travellers were interested in, again with Toronto and Vancouver in the number one and two spots.

 

Some jet-setters, however, are looking for adventures on a grander scale.

“We’re seeing strong demand for international travel, such as Europe and sun destinations, as travel restrictions are expected to decrease,” said Air Canada’s Mark Nasr in the Google report.

Interestingly, Italy is the number one most searched destination among Canadian travellers–at least at the moment.

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Perhaps less surprising was number two on the list: the United States.

Mexico came in third as many Canadians book trips away from Canada’s coming winter.

Canadians are also looking for flights to India, France, Dubai, Greece, Japan, the U.K., and Cuba.