Simon George reports from St John’s, Canada, on improved direct air access from Europe and growing MICE demand.
Gulf stream to jet stream
Visit St John’s in late May and it’s clear that nature is on the move. Migrating humpback whales return to the cold waters around Newfoundland and Labrador, icebergs drift south from Greenland, and seabirds like puffins and guillemots fill the skies on the lookout for fish.
The skies near the city’s airport are also seeing increased activity. WestJet has recently boosted its service to London Gatwick to four flights a week (April to October), resumed flights to Dublin twice a week, and launched a new weekly service to Paris.
This improvement in direct air access from Europe is a welcome development for meetings and events in the region. As Paul Bugge, CEO of Destination St John’s (DSJ), told CMW:
“In terms of bringing delegates to Newfoundland and Labrador, the value proposition of having them fly over us, to fly back to us, is a hard one. However, now that you are able to fly direct to St John’s from London, Dublin or Paris in generally about 4.5–5 hours, it’s a game changer.”
Keeping events local
In addition to improved accessibility, CMW asked Bugge about whether DSJ might be seeing a ‘MICE dividend’ – an uptick in bookings from associations or companies choosing Canada over the US in response to political factors, including backlash against US trade tariffs.
While Bugge said it was too early to call it a trend, he noted signs that some companies are indeed exploring alternative destinations for meetings, and that Canada’s leisure tourism is benefiting in terms of visitor numbers and domestic travel. However, there has been no drop-off in US visitors to Canada according to the latest statistics.
Booking visibility healthy
MICE booking visibility in St John’s looks strong. That sentiment is echoed by several local stakeholders:
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Larry Laite, corporate director at the JAG – a boutique rock’n’roll-themed hotel that has just added a new tower with 85 guest rooms
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Amy Kavanagh, sales manager at the St John’s Convention Centre, which will host the Canada Games in August
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Marlene Slaney, director of group sales at the Sheraton
All report solid event pipelines and growing interest.
“Canada’s business events market is not forecast to come back to pre-Covid levels until 2028 or 2029. However, we (a partner of Destination Canada) are ahead of the national average in both booked and future booked business, and are outperforming the rest of Canada,” Bugge shared.
A wish for further growth
Looking ahead, Bugge hopes for expanded airlift from Europe, especially year-round service to London:
“We would love to get to a point – at least a couple of times a week – where there is a direct service to London rather than just April to October. That is important not just for our tourists, our guests and our business events, but for our business community – particularly our oil and gas and natural energy industries, where there is a lot of cross-the-sea traffic.”
