PHOTO: Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy of Thinkstock)

With low currency rates and even lower oil prices dominating the headlines for the past year, the tourism industry has been turning lemons into lemonade by celebrating the fact that Canadians are travelling closer to home this year. More Canadian heads in beds is good news for Canada’s travel industry, which faces a $17.64 billion deficit as nearly twice as many Canadians travel outside of Canada as they do domestically.

But a new survey by Cheapflights.ca says hold the phone, international travel still remains incredibly popular for Canadian travellers. In fact, only 10 percent of searches for airfare pricing on the Cheapflights.ca website were for flights within Canada, according to the site's new Compass Report.

“Travel is clearly a passion for Canadians,” said Andrew Shelton, managing director of Cheapflights. “And our goal, as always, is to help streamline the search for the best flight options and travel savings. The Compass Report takes that effort to the next level, packaging a year’s worth of insights into a single snapshot to help travellers zero in on the best value destinations near and far.”

The report, which reveals the most affordable and the most popular destinations for Canadians, culled data against six key Canadian markets (Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal) of searches made in the last year.

And if you’ll excuse a little editorializing here, in total Canadians spent some 663,550 hours, or more than 75 years searching for flights last year. We love travel planning as much as the next person, but imagine how much time could have been saved by using a travel agent.

But back to the survey. Where exactly are Canadians looking to travel this year? According to the Compass Report, the most popular searches were for (1) Manila, Philippines, (2) Vancouver, B.C. and (3) Los Angeles, Calif, U.S. Another key finding in the report is that all ten of the most affordable destinations, in terms of airfare, are located in the United States. The most affordable city in Canada is Montreal, which clocked in at number 15 on the list.

More Results

The report begins by analyzing flight searches from the six key cities across Canada to see where travellers want to fly. Not surprisingly, North America tops the list of most-searched regions with 45 per cent of all searches.

Most-Searched Regions
North America (45 percent)
Asia (23 per cent)
Europe (22 per cent)
Africa (5 per cent)
South America (3 percent)
Oceania (2 percent)

Broken down by country, 22 percent of all the searches were for travel to the U.S. while Canadian destinations accounted for 10 percent of last year’s searches. Other North American destinations, which in this case includes Mexico and the Caribbean, accounted for 13 percent of total searches.

Top Destinations

According to the study, here are the destinations for which Canadians did the most searches:

1 Manila, Philippines
2 Vancouver, B.C.
3 Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.
4 Bangkok, Thailand
5 London, England
6 Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S.
7 Las Vegas, Nev., U.S.
8 Delhi, India
9 New York, N.Y., U.S.
10 Orlando, Fla., U.S.

Most Affordable Destinations

When looking at destinations in terms of the average round-trip airfare cost, the study revealed that the 10 most affordable destinations are all in the United States: 

1 New York, N.Y., U.S. ($294)
2 Boston, Mass., U.S. ($362)
3 Washington, D.C., U.S. ($378)
4 Chicago, Ill., U.S. ($410)
5 Seattle, Wash., U.S. ($441)
6 Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S. ($442)
7 Orlando, Fla., U.S. ($442)
8 Tampa, Fla., U.S. ($456)
9 Los Angeles, Calif., U.S. ($458)
10 Phoenix, Ariz., U.S. ($461)

In Canada, the most affordable city is Montreal, which clocked in on this chart at number 15, with an average airfare of $481.

Outside mainland U.S. and Canada, the airports offering the best value include San Juan, Puerto Rico ($487), Montego Bay, Jamaica ($587) and Mexico City, Mexico ($599). Also noteworthy were destinations in Hawaii, including Honolulu ($639) and Kahului ($613), which were on par with Varadero, Cuba ($639). In fact, flights to Hawaii ($613) cost about the same as flights to Vancouver ($612).

Broken down by region, the best value in the Caribbean were found in Cancun, Mexico ($473), San Juan, Puerto Rico ($487) and Montego Bay, Jamaica ($587). In Asia, Hong Kong ($961) topped the charts, followed by Tokyo, Japan ($1,026) and Shanghai, China ($1,048).

City by City Results

Highlights from individual destinations include the following results:

Toronto

• Most-searched destinations: Vancouver, B.C. ($633), Manila, Philippines ($1272), New York, N.Y., U.S. ($252)
• Most-affordable destinations: New York, N.Y., U.S. ($252), Orlando, Fla., U.S ($417), Halifax. N.S. ($422)
• Beyond the U.S. and Canada: Kingston, Jamaica ($661), Paris, France ($762), London, England ($789)
• Swap and save destinations: Paris, France ($762) over Frankfurt, Germany ($948); Orlando, Fla., U.S. ($417) over Miami, Fla., U.S. ($445)

More results at www.cheapflights.ca/news/2016-compass-report-toronto.

Montreal

• Most-searched destinations: Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S ($433), Bangkok, Thailand ($1,196), Paris, France ($796)
• Most affordable destinations: New York, N.Y., U.S ($206), Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S ($433), Orlando, Fla., U.S ($441)
• Beyond the U.S. and Canada: Cancun, Mexico ($475), Varadero, Cuba ($575), Mexico City, Mexico ($598)
• Swap and save destinations: Cancun, Mexico ($475) over Varadero, Cuba ($575); Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S. ($433) over Miami, Fla., U.S. ($475)

More results at www.cheapflights.ca/news/2016-compass-report-montreal.

Calgary

• Most-popular destinations: Manila, Philippines ($1,133), Vancouver, B.C. ($338), Toronto, Ont. ($581)
• Most-affordable destinations: Vancouver, B.C. ($338), Seattle, Wash., U.S. ($338), Victoria, B.C. ($352)
• Beyond the U.S. and Canada: Cancun, Mexico ($502), Hong Kong ($1,022), London, England ($1,036)
• Swap and save destinations: New York, N.Y., U.S. ($525) over Toronto, Ont. ($581); Hong Kong ($1,022) over Bangkok, Thailand ($1,184)

More results at www.cheapflights.ca/news/2016-compass-report-calgary.

Winnipeg

• Most-popular destinations:  Manila, Philippines ($1,308), Vancouver, B.C. ($503), Toronto, Ont. ($488)
• Most affordable: Edmonton, Alta. ($411), Calgary, Alta. ($414), Las Vegas, Nev., U.S. ($482)
• Beyond the U.S. and Canada: Cancun, Mexico ($507), London, England ($955), Amsterdam, Netherlands ($1,025)
• Swap and save destinations: Cancun, Mexico ($507) over Miami, Fla., U.S. ($584); Amsterdam, Netherlands ($1,025) over Frankfurt, Germany ($1,143)

More results at www.cheapflights.ca/news/2016-compass-report-winnipeg.

Ottawa
• Most-popular destinations: Vancouver, B.C. ($697), Orlando, Fla., U.S. ($451), Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S.  ($446)
• Most affordable destinations: Toronto, Ont. ($217), New York, N.Y., U.S. ($347), Halifax, N.S. ($387)
• Beyond the U.S. and Canada: Dublin, Ireland ($697), Paris, France ($835), London, England ($965)
• Swap and save destinations: Dublin, Ireland ($679) over London, England ($965); Las Vegas, Nev., U.S. ($491) over Los Angeles, Calif., U.S. ($565)

More results at www.cheapflights.ca/news/2016-compass-report-ottawa.

Vancouver

• Most-popular destinations: Manila, Philippines ($998), Hong Kong ($843), Los Angeles, Calif., U.S. ($307)
• Most affordable destinations: Los Angeles, Calif., U.S. ($307), Calgary, Alta. ($338), Las Vegas, Nev. U.S. ($386)
• Beyond the U.S. and Canada: Hong Kong ($843), Paris, France ($917), Shanghai, China ($937)
• Swap and save destinations: Toronto, Ont. ($641) over Montreal, Que. ($729); Hong Kong ($843) over Tokyo, Japan ($964)

Moe results at www.cheapflights.ca/news/2016-compass-report-vancouver.

To see the full affordability rankings of the 101 most-searched destinations, visit www.cheapflights.ca/news/2016-compass-report-canada.

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