Hundreds of people filtered through the Albion Community Centre on Feb. 3 looking for their next big adventure at the Ridge Meadows Travel Expo.
Hosted by Expedia Cruises, this event featured 18 travel industry vendors and nearly a dozen different presentations to help people plan their next vacation.
Kelly Lilley, Maple Ridge manager for Expedia Cruises, said that the expo saw a great turnout, which she credited to the combination of hosting it in a nice venue and having beautiful weather on the day.
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Lilley explained that Expedia Cruises is receiving a spike in the number of people interested in travelling due to most families being forced to abstain from travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also said that the preferred type of travel is now starting to shift.
“Alaska is still big because it’s in our backyard, but there’s a huge amount of people now that are looking at longer and more exotic cruises,” said Lilley.
She said that the event featured something for everybody thanks to the wide range of vendors that participated, which included the custom travel company Goway Travel.
Goway account manager Jason Stratford said that while there has been a slow return to pre-pandemic travel, the numbers are now starting to climb back up, especially for cruise companies like Expedia Cruises.
“For large arrangements, it’s only starting to pick up,” said Stratford.
“Canada is a bit slower to get going than the U.S. was. The Americans straight after COVID went crazy and started booking everything, but Canada has been slower to get going again. But we’re definitely starting to see it grow now.”
He also said that while the crowd had a fair amount of diversity, there was a certain trend in the attendees of the Ridge Meadows Travel Expo.
“It would say it was definitely a lot of older people, but there was a little bit of a mix as well,” said Stratford.
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Now that the Ridge Meadows Travel Expo has come to an end, Expedia Cruises will prepare to do the prize draw on Facebook Live on Feb. 6, which will give away prizes to some of the people who filled out the passports at the expo.
