Opening Canada-US Border "Critically Important," Says California Tourism

Opening Canada-US Border “Critically Important,” Says California Tourism

June 28, 2021 Jim Byers

The head of the group that promotes California tourism says it’s “critically important” that the Canada-US border open soon.

Caroline Beteta, President and CEO of Visit California, said on a virtual industry/media event that Canada is one of the top three international markets for the Golden State, along with Mexico and the UK.

Beteta said Canadians and other international tourists account for just 6.3% of total visitors, but 17.7% of tourism spending in California.

“Canada is a strong, year ’round market for us,” and that includes the important “snowbird” market, she said.

Beteta said Air Canada has roughly 6,000 available seats on flights between Canada and California in June but hopes to hike that to 12,000 in July and then 34,000 in August or September.

Leisure travel in the U.S. is rebounding nicely, said Roger Dow, President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. In fact, he said, some destinations with beaches and outdoor activities as their main focus are actually seeing tourism numbers that outpace pre-pandemic figures.

“It’s going to be a very good leisure travel summer, especially for California,” he said.

But the key to recovery down south will be a return for business travel and meetings/events, which make up a large amount of hotel nights and tourism revenue.

Dow said the USTA is putting considerable pressure on the U.S. government to open the Canadian border, as well as to bring in visitors from the United Kingdom.