Canada's Year in Travel 2023: Where We Ventured & How We Got There

’Tis the season, and we couldn’t be more excited — but not for the reasons you might be thinking. While some people absolutely live for the day it becomes acceptable to put up their Christmas tree and order a gingerbread latte, we look forward to December because it’s when we get to reflect on all the amazing adventures Canadians went on this year.

So, without further ado! Let’s take a look back at Canada’s Year in Travel. We’ve been busy crunching the numbers and are ready to reveal it all. Read on to discover which destinations you couldn’t get enough of this year (hint: they’re sunny) and so much more 👇

Don’t have time to read the full report right now? No worries! Here are seven interesting takeaways. (That said, you should definitely bookmark 🔖 this page to come back to later.) 

• We booked flights for 403 babies (and their parents/guardians, of course!).
• The largest booking we made was for a group of 160 people travelling to Punta Cana.
• 4-star properties were the most popular, accounting for 50% of hotel bookings.
• The longest amount of time someone stayed at a hotel was 40 days.
• Our most expensive cruise booking cost a whopping $339,732.
• Balcony staterooms made up the majority of cruise bookings (35%).
• We planned a lot of romantic getaways — 41% of bookings were made for couples.

• Where did Canadians fly? 
• Where did Canadians stay? 
• Where did Canadians cruise? 
• Where did Canadians tour? 
• Who travelled with Flight Centre?
• Where are Canadians going next?

There are 195 countries in the world. So, which ones did Canadians fly to most? Here’s what we learned from our flight booking data ✈️

The 26% of customers who booked domestic travel in 2023 ventured all across Canada 🍁 — from Victoria, BC to Halifax, NS. But it was the west coast that reigned supreme: a lot of our domestic flight passengers spent time in Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna in 2023. It’s safe to say they discovered why BC license plates are adorned with the words, “Beautiful, British Columbia.”

1. Vancouver, British Columbia
2. Calgary, Alberta
3. Toronto, Ontario
4. Victoria, British Columbia
5. Kelowna, British Columbia
6. Halifax, Nova Scotia
7. Ottawa, Ontario
8. Edmonton, Alberta
9. Montreal, Québec
10. Winnipeg, Manitoba

This is so cool… literally! 🥶 Some Flight Centre customers travelled all the way to Longyearbyen, which is part of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. The island and its main port, which are well within the Arctic Circle, feature on some adventure and expedition cruise itineraries that run between April and September.

No matter how much we get irked by reclined seats (and having to politely hold in our elbows for hours at a time during long-haul flights), economy still rules 💺 It was the most popular class of ticket purchased across both international and domestic flights this year.

• Economy: 94%
• Business: 3%
• Premium economy: 2%
• First class: 1%

Most international travellers (99.99%, to be precise) chose to fly to only one destination before going home again. That means only a teensy-tiny portion of customers (0.01%) realized the dollars that can be saved by opting for multi-stop flights. You might want to look into this!     

That said, there are some customers who clearly prefer to list their travel status as “it’s complicated”. The longest and most complex air booking we made in 2023 was for a flight itinerary with nine legs 📍

YYZ ➜ YVR
YVR ➜ BNE
BNE ➜ DPS
DPS ➜ SIN
 SIN ➜ CNX
BKK ➜ YVR
YVR ➜ SAN
SAN ➜ PDX
YVR ➜ YYZ

This traveller flew from Toronto to Vancouver — and then to Brisbane, Bali, Singapore and Chiang Mai. They then flew from Bangkok to Vancouver, where they departed for San Diego. From there, they travelled to Portland before making their way back to Vancouver to fly home to Toronto. Based on these destinations, we can assume that the trip was as adventurous as it was culturally enriching. Is it inspiring your travel plans?

Stay whaaat?! Canadians luxuriated at hotels this year, reserving accommodation for an average of four days. But of course, this varied: the longest hotel stay booked by Flight Centre customers in 2023 was 40 days, while the shortest stay was less than one day. 

And since we know you’re wondering how much travellers paid for these stays… we’ll share that our most expensive domestic hotel booking was $3,805 and our most expensive international hotel booking was $56,662. We’ll leave it to you to guess the properties.

Here’s what else we learned from our hotel booking data 🛎️

The majority of Canadian travellers may have flown into Cancún… but they didn’t necessarily stay there. Most of this year’s hotel bookings were actually for the Riviera Maya. Las Vegas 🎰 also saw a huge number of hotel stays, coming in with the third largest number of bookings overall.

1. Riviera Maya, Mexico
2. Cancún, Mexico
3. Las Vegas, Nevada
4. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
5. Vancouver, BC
6. Los Cabos, Mexico
7. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
8. Honolulu, Hawai‘i
9. Toronto, ON
10. Miami, Florida

Canadians may not have splurged on a ton of 5-star accommodations ⭐ — but they didn’t scrimp, either! Most chose to stay at hotels at the 4- and 3-star level. 

• 5-star hotels: 16%
• 4-star hotels: 50%
• 3-star hotels: 26%
• 2-star hotels: 7%
• 1-star hotels: 1%

Recent research by the Cruise Lines International Association indicates that the volume of people booking cruises globally will exceed 2019’s volume by 6% and will grow by another 15% in 2024.* Who are these seafaring individuals? Sixty-two was the average age of Flight Centre customers who booked cruises in 2023 — meaning boomers majorly contributed to cruising’s increased popularity this year.

Here’s more of what we learned from our cruise booking data 🚢

As mentioned, Canadians love travelling to sunny locales — particularly in the Caribbean. No wonder most cruises that were booked by Flight Centre customers this year departed from two Florida destinations: Orlando and Cape Canaveral. European and South Pacific cruises also proved popular, with Lisbon 🍷, Sydney 🐨, Athens 🏺 and Auckland 🥝 each earning a spot on this list.

1. Orlando, Florida
2. Cape Canaveral, Florida
3. Long Beach, California
4. Lisbon, Portugal
5. San Juan, Puerto Rico
6. Southampton, United Kingdom
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Athens, Greece
9. Auckland, New Zealand
10. Honolulu, Hawai‘i

Cruises comes in all shapes and sizes, as do their cabins (ahem, ✨staterooms✨). This year, Canadians booked balcony staterooms more than any other style. 

• Balcony: 35%
• Interior: 31%
• Other: 17%
• Outside: 12%
• Suite/penthouse: 5%

The most expensive cruise booking made this year was $339,732 (!!!). While it's tempting to assume that this traveller stretched out in style in a penthouse stateroom, it's much more likely this booking was for an extended sojourn at sea in modest lodgings. Life on land is so overrated!

Why visit one destination when you can visit a bunch of destinations? From solo travellers to couples, families and small groups, every type of Flight Centre customer (more on these segments below!) booked a tour in 2023. 

Here’s what we learned from our tour booking data 🥾

The top 10 flight destinations we mentioned earlier may be close to home. But don’t let that fool you! Canadians also love travelling to far-flung destinations like Morocco, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam, Bolivia and Kenya — they just so happen to prefer doing it on a tour with a local guide.

1. San José, Costa Rica
2. Casablanca, Morocco
3. Antananarivo, Madagascar
4. Bangkok, Thailand
5. Budapest, Hungary
6. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
7. La Paz, Bolivia
8. Madrid, Spain
9. Munich, Germany
10. Nairobi, Kenya

Psssst! On average, our customers spent $5,095 on tours (which had an average duration of 13 days) in 2023. That sounds like a pretty sweet deal, if you ask us.

Now that we understand where and how Flight Centre customers travelled in 2023, let's take a closer look at who these people are and how they differ from each other. 

To get a picture of our typical customer, imagine Barack and Michelle Obama or Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in the Caribbean. The majority of trips we booked this year (41%) were for couples 💑 between 50–65 years old.

Having said that, solo travellers 🧑 weren’t far behind SJP and her husband. That customer segment made up 40% of bookings. Meanwhile, families 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 made up 9% of overall bookings this year.

So where did these people travel to? Let’s dive into the details.

Couples who relax in the sun together, stay together. This customer segment mostly visited Caribbean destinations (but there are a few European countries on the list, too). 

1. Dominican Republic
2. Mexico
3. Cuba
4. Jamaica
5. Barbados
6. Costa Rica
7. USA
8. Saint Martin
9. Spain
10. Portugal

Despite being alone, solo travellers were brave enough to venture a little farther afield than our couples. In addition to sun destinations, this customer segment spent a lot of time across the pond.

1. Mexico
2. Dominican Republic
3. Jamaica
4. Spain
5. Portugal
6. Denmark
7. Germany
8. Switzerland
9. Netherlands
10. Norway

Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba are home to an incredible number of all-inclusive resorts 🏨 — so it’s really no surprise that this customer segment travelled to those destinations most.

1. Mexico
2. Dominican Republic
3. Jamaica
4. USA
5. Cuba
6. Curaçao
7. Canada
8. Spain
9. Portugal
10. Denmark

It’s also worth noting that we booked 403 babies 👶 on flights this year. Given that the average flight was around three hours long, that’s 1,209 hourly games of peek-a-boo countless parents/guardians kindly initiated for other passengers’ benefits. Seriously… thank you.

If all this travel talk has you dreaming of your next getaway, this section’s for you. We have a hunch about which destinations will be popular in 2024. Start dreaming (and planning) now! 💭

1. Philippines
2. Spain
3. Italy
4. Portugal
5. Cuba
6. France
7. Germany
8. Netherlands
9. United Kingdom
10. Australia

So, there you have it! 2023 was a year shaped by opened gates, adventurous dates and incredible rates. It wasn’t just about returning to old habits, but about seeking new journeys and experiences 🌎 We can’t wait to see what next year brings. Until then, happy travels!

^{Methodology: This report is based on the internal booking data we had available to us. It covers the period between October 10, 2022 and October 9, 2023. We’re confident in the quality of our data and every effort has been made to ensure and preserve its accuracy.}

^{*Source: CLIA Passenger Data (2019–2021) and CLIA Cruise Forecast/Tourism Economics (December 2022)
**Source: Google Finance (October 30, 2023)}