Toronto Travel Spending a Market Worth Fighting For

Canadian travel to US has plummeted and Toronto region travelers are looking at other destinations in big numbers.  That’s great news for Toronto travel agencies.

Not only are new customers in the GTA up for grabs, they’re shopping for entirely new experiences and locations which may require a little more handholding from experienced travel agents. AI-hyped travelers in the GTA are liking AI travel agency features too, yet, they may be finding they need more personalized and trusted help with their travel planning and trips than a Chatbot can deliver.

50% of travelers say they are more likely to use a travel advisor today than in past — ASTA report.   

The added sales opportunity is available if you care about building your agency’s online presence.

International Outbound Travel a Consistently Lucrative Market

While the domestic market has revved up (and I can help you with that too), the Canadian outbound travel market is massive and lucrative, estimated at $5.7 Billion just for the first quarter of 2025.  Canadians are travelling to many overseas destinations with an average spend of $1,422 per overnight visit. Overseas, Canadian spending for 2025 was higher, at $8.5 billion with an average of $2,012 per visit. Popular overseas destinations included Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and China.

Trips to overseas countries increased by 7.1% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024 and expenditures on overseas trips rose 11.3% in Q1 2025. A big change in the preferred destinations, services, problems, needs and more means new sales opportunities for agencies who are ready to reach these GTA travelers.

A 2025 survey of 2,064 adults in the US or Canada by MMGY, who had taken at least one vacation outside North America or the Caribbean in the past three years and expect to take at least one more in the next 12 months. About half of respondents reported household incomes above $100,000, with 7% earning more than $250,000.

The MMGY survey  Demand for Outbound Travel Surges Among U.S. & Canadian Travelers, MMGY Study Confirms – MMGY Travel Intelligence found a strong interest in using travel advisors by Americans.  The demand for expert guidance is on the rise: two-thirds of travelers, growth driven primarily by Millennials, say they’ll use a travel advisor in the next two years, especially for complex or multigenerational trips. Of course, GTA seniors are far more likely to use a Toronto travel agency.

Being Confident, Finding New Customers

Traditional travel agencies have avoided competing for new customers or retaining them via digital marketing channels. Most passively wait for word-of-mouth referrals or return bookings from past clients. Yet, when travelers (including your clients) search online, they’re greeted with a big array of national and local travel service providers.

30% of travel advisors say that over half of their clients are using their advisory services for the first time – ASTA report.  

Your local competition have opted out of web marketing, especially in creating “owned media assets” which is what a good website it is. It makes a special statement, boosting access to your brand and your travel products. Owning your platform is essential. The content on your website is where visitors are welcomed, educated, engaged and persuaded. From blogs to videos to personalized travel reports, it can be their home base for their travel dream.

Google search has to be the primary source.  This is responded to by search engine optimization and content marketing specialists who capture dominant visibililty, make an impression, engaging travel buyers so they will engage with travel advisors who book trips, answer questions, and provide the assurance and confidence they crave.

Gaining visibility online is the biggest challenge for small travel agency owners in the GTA.

Making the effort to reach that massive 7 million-person audience in the Golden Horseshoe is wise. Many travel buyers don’t necessarily need an agency in their own community. It could be one near their workplace, or in a city/town within 50 km.  They’re comfortable with “nearby” as they may never meet the advisor in person, or might only do so once.

However, the more visible and profound the travel agency is, the broader will be the area they can serve. If they find yours and find your offer the best, they’ll choose your agency.   If an agency has advisors working remotely in all of the GTA communities, they can access a very large number of travel consumers locally.

The Opportunity and Rewards are Significant

Small travel agencies might not make the effort to use digital marketing due to cost, time, expertise, and perhaps confidence issues. Perhaps there’s a belief they can only attract a select part of a local audience.

The opportunity however for Toronto area travel agencies does relate to survivability and growth.  And by growing visibility to a larger audience, companies can scale up offerings, find better travel clients, create better partnerships, and of course increase revenues. My goal here is to make you care about sustaining your sales, growing leads, and building a brand presence that will last.

The opportunity for improved GTA travel marketing campaigns is in:

• Broader brand exposure
• New customer leads and additional sales
• Improved conversion of delayed sales
• More relevant, interesting and personalized content to view
• More transparency, trust and brand retention
• Better marketing support for specific destinations
• Better marketing support for key destinations
• Comprehensive support for local and regional tours
• Positive signals to business partners

Toronto’s older age groups still search for info on Google. There’s always something to check before planning and booking a trip. And more are tuning into ChatGPT, and trying out Agentic AI apps. They’re not sure how to go. But what if your travel agency and helpful, professional advisors are always in front of them as they search?

A New Plan for Toronto Travel Agencies

A new plan is one that is comfortable for the style of these traditional agencies, many of whom have brochure-type websites and have not adopted AI technology. Instead, their stubborn focus is on simple marketing communications which connect directly with a phone call to an advisor.

The problem is, most travel consumers aren’t comfortable with committing to a conversation right off, and need time to shape their travel dream before doing so. It’s the fun, imaginative time where “the mind travels first.”  This means a great website still has value in reaching them, shaping and capturing their travel intent through content.

Search is predominant, as Google serves 8.5 billion searches per day and tens of millions of those are travel-related. And when people search, they’ll be visualizing committing to the companies they see in this search process. They’re constantly reading to find justification for choosing the company they’re viewing.   We all do that when surfing.

Those agencies who create impactful, memorable and useful content, might be revisited for a delayed booking success. Leads and sales are usually delayed until the traveler has their trip visualized. The phone call comes last.

Building a Great Travel Agency Website

Of course, your consumer or corporate-focused website design is important. A clean, fast loading and professional layout, that presents your brand and UVP laser clear is part of the winning design formula.

With respect to your content, a combination of helpful, organized, and visually appealing pages is vital. These assets help to capture travelers intent to travel and complete actions – helping them find resources, be informed, reviewing/assessing and finally to conduct a booking transaction.

The travel agency’s content strategy is where expertise is needed. Because it’s more than providing information.  Content must make an emotional impact, then be engaging enough to keep them on a page, and then increasing their intent to book a trip or contact an advisor. And after they leave, they remember your agency.

Travel SEO is the Biggest Value

Expert level search engine optimization also comes into play. Most traffic arrives from search engines — thus your future leads and your current customers because they’re always on Google too. A travel SEO/Content pro composes the topics, keywords, themes, and copywriting that resonates with Google’s search engine algorithm. Travel SEO techniques guided by a good SEO strategy make the most of your site’s ranking power.

Sadly, most agencies in Toronto have very low traffic online. The reason for this is:

• lack of content expertise
• low marketing budgets
• no integrated strategy to focus all resources to win
• lack of SEO and content strategy expertise
• low ambition
• poor understanding of the full business value of strong online exposure

A successful SEO/Content Strategy for your travel agency doesn’t require a massive project managed by a digital marketing agency. You can begin with researching your target customer and building some great content for the customers you’d like to attract.

For instance, over the next few years, many travel agency owners and travel sector VCs will see this blog post. The more effort I put into it, the more owners it will reach. It takes some time, cash, and continued optimization effort to eventually rise to the top. Some well-developed articles can become very successful. I’ve created million-visitor blog posts several times. The potential is here to create substantial visibility through content.

Ready to Help You Own the GTA Market

This is owned media, what all marketers are hoping to build for their clients.  I’m ready to help research the right strategy for your business to perhaps dominate the GTA market. It’s a matter of getting your great brand and messages to the right audience from Oakville to Mississauga to Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham out to Ajax and then downtown.  A bigger market, expanded just for you.

Given the affordability of my services, there’s little reason to wait. It’s a simple process to launch. No complications needed. Let’s get this done and watch your travel agency really thrive in 2026!

Contact me Gord, at 416 998 6246