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Summer is nearly here, and rising costings, including higher gas prices, could have a significant impact on holiday travel in Ontario, especially as people prepare for vacations and long weekends. 

This is a reality not lost on Explore Waterloo Region as the destination marketing organization continues to navigate potential challenges to promote local tourism. 

“I’m hearing from a number of our attraction members saying how expensive everything is. The cost of food has gone up and the cost of entertainment for festivals to book name-brand entertainment has also gone up exponentially,” says Explore Waterloo Region CEO Michele Saran. “In many cases, these kinds of costs get passed along to the consumers. But this isn’t just isolated to Canada, this is worldwide.”

Despite these concerns, there is a glimmer hope according to

TravelindustryToday.com which referenced a recent survey from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) that indicates nearly nine in 10 Canadians plan to travel in 2026.

The survey also showed that travel remains a core part of Canadians’ lives, with 58% saying it is central or important. It also showed 81% of households expect to make compromises and that domestic tourism has increasingly become a deliberate choice, not by default.

“People have to get away, it isn’t discretionary, and many people don’t view it as discretionary,” says Michele, referring to the mental health benefits of travelling and the lingering impact of the pandemic when travel restrictions were in place.

The importance of staycations increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic. During travel restrictions, many Ontarians discovered destinations within their own province, including cottage regions, provincial parks, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Muskoka, Prince Edward County, and Northern Ontario. Even after international travel resumed, many people continued choosing local trips because they were more affordable and less stressful. 

Tourism revenue beats national average

This shift helped Ontario’s tourism sector recover from major financial losses experienced during the pandemic. The provincial government even introduced a temporary staycation tax credit in 2022 to encourage residents to travel within Ontario, which hasn’t been renewed despite continues calls.

Locally, Michele says Waterloo Region continues to position itself well as an economical ‘drive location’ to spend time in, regardless of the current world climate, noting 2025 was a banner year for local tourism.

“We did almost $1 billion in tourism revenue last year, which was a 10% increase over 2024,” she says, adding the region beat the national average of only 4%.

“Nationally, they rely on a lot more international visitors and cross-border traffic. We don’t here so it’s not a big surprise that we’ve done so well, and we’ve really made a concentrated effort to create those experiences that people want to explore and come here to enjoy.”

This includes a feature on the Explore Waterloo Region website where visitors can create their own vacation itinerary – even booking hotels and attractions - or chose from a selection of curated itineraries.

In effort to reach potential visitors, this past year the organization also created its first fully developed destination brand, accomplished through extensive research, stakeholder engagement, and consumer testing. It has positioned the region around the promise ‘Waterloo Region is a curious place for curious people’ and the tagline ‘Stay Curious’.  

The campaign combined mass digital advertising on numerous social media platforms, premium out-of-home placements (especially in the GTA), and owned marketing channels to reach audiences where they plan and discover travel experiences.

It’s a strategy that is well-positioned to bring more tourists to Waterloo Region, especially since Statistics Canada has found the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. decreased 12.5% from February 2025 to February 2026, marking the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year decline.

Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. by automobile declined 12.3% to 1.2 million in February 2026, with the number of return trips by air (749,500) decreasing 12% compared with February 2025.

Conference space remains a challenge

“We’ve (Waterloo Region) always a been a domestic location anyway, so the fact more people are staying home gives us an even bigger pool of people to draw from,” says Michele, adding the area attracts more than five million visitors annually. “It’s usually Canadians that are coming here so we don’t see many challenges when it comes to dealing with big geopolitical forces.”

However, she says the region’s biggest tourism challenge remains a lack of hotel and conference options.

“We have less than 3,000 hotel rooms and what we need is more capacity,” says Michele. “Big business events generally look for four-star hotel options and we don’t have a lot of those properties. We also need more capacity in terms of meeting space and as a result, a lot of potential business is left on the table because we don’t have the space to accommodate them. Hosting large meetings here just helps as a catalyst for trade and investment.”

She also notes the rising popularity of large Esports events, and the necessity to have state-of-the-art facilities to accommodate such gatherings, adding public transit upgrades are also imperative.

“Right now, it’s not easy to come to this region using public transit exclusively, so it’s a drive location,” says Michele, noting the importance of tourism when it comes to economic planning. “When you’re planning cities, the best thing you can do is look at it through a visitor lens.”