Alberta travel agencies see bump in bookings, queries

Alberta travel agencies say they are beginning to see an uptick in bookings as vaccine rollout begins across Canada and around the world.

"I think a lot of people have just about had it being cooped up. So if they can go away for a week and do the rapid testing in Calgary or Edmonton, they're really thinking about it," said Lesley Paull, presidentof Paull Travel.

Paull said that some people are starting to travel for the holidays,but it's quite minimal. They are seeing some bookings for destinations like Hawaii, but said she is also fielding a lot of questions about booking further down the road.

Her agency isn't the only one seeing a bump in interest, especially for trips in late 2021 and beyond.

"We're going to see people booking for Europe into 2022. People are pre-booking their cruises. A lot of people were left with a future travel credit when they were cancelled from their trip this year," said Nikola Berube, director of sales for AMA Travel.

"So that's where we're seeing most of the people that are coming in and asking about what can they plan ahead on, how far should they plan ahead? They're redeeming those future travel credits."

Jeff Woodward is one of the people who hope to revive a cancelled vacation, but he said he'll wait until the vaccine has been more widely distributed. He said as tempting as a trip to Hawaii this winter might be, he wouldn't want to take the chance of being a spreader or bringing the virus to a new community.

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"There needs to sort of be a level of vaccine rollout, that we're near that 70 percent vaccinated rate, where we're where we are and where I'm going to feel OK about it," he said.

Woodward said he would wait for other restrictions to be eased before travelling, adding he doesn't want to go to a destination and not be able to fully experience the restaurants and life in the community he's visiting.

Like many Albertans, Woodward cancelled a trip he booked before the pandemic. He was able to get a refund for aflight to Berlin, and is starting to wonder when he will be able to give the trip another shot.

"We're thinking maybe if we're lucky, by the end of 2021, there might be some normalcy around that sort of travel," he said.

"But honestly, I don't want to say I'm pessimistic but I don't really have high expectations that we're going to be able to move about the world as we did prior to the pandemic for another 12 or 18 months at least."