REGINA – ‘Tis the season to travel, but some people aren’t heading out of country to do so.
Thanks to a low Canadian dollar, many travelers are opting to stay in Canada for the holidays.
The loonie dropped 0.26 Wednesday to 72.08 cents US, and remains at an 11-year low this month.
The currency is trading down in tandem with oil, which slipped by close to three per cent and doesn’t expect to rebound in the foreseeable future.
Sheldon Guillame was travelling from Regina to Vancouver, on Wednesday and said he just can’t justify booking a trip to the US given the exchange rate.
“I want to get the best bang for my buck, and for me that means staying in Canada,” he said.
Wayne and Gloria Anderson are snowbirds who head to their property in Phoenix every year and said they’ve made a budget.
“We’ll be more cautious of what we’re buying when we’re down there,” said Gloria. “We’re not going to be spending. We’ll be more careful.”
Art of Travel consultant Dana Sokoloski said despite the low Canadian dollar people are still travelling, just less spontaneously.
“We usually get a lot of Las Vegas bookings, they are usually last minute, and that’s probably be the biggest drop off,” she added.
Sokoloski said if you have the travel itch, one option to consider is countries where our currency does well in comparison.
“New Zealand, Turkey and Brazil are the three that have dropped even further then the Canadian dollar,” she explained. “Those three are expensive to get to, but you’ll find once you get there your dollar will go a lot further.
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