Saskatoon (Getty Images)

VANCOUVER — Destination Canada has released new data on resident sentiment in Canada regarding the resumption of travel. The organization is tracking sentiment to understand the level of ‘welcome’ residents of each province/region are feeling toward visitors.

The June 2 study found that, while Ontarians remain the least welcoming of visitors from other communities near them (33 per cent) and from other parts of their province (28 per cent), British Columbians sentiment has shifted and moved from being among the least welcoming to the most welcoming of in-province visitors. More than half (55 per cent) of B.C. residents surveyed indicated they strongly or somewhat agree with welcoming visitors to their community from nearby communities and 44 per cent agreed with welcoming visitors from other parts of the province.

Quebec continues to be the most welcoming of out-of-province visitors (31 per cent), while a significant decline now ranks Atlantic residents as the least accepting of domestic out-of-province visitors (13 per cent). Atlantic residents saw significant declines in sentiment towards nearly all levels of visitors compared to the previous week.

When Destination Canada began tracking resident sentiment (May 11), Albertans were clearly the most likely to be welcoming of all out-of-province visitors, including domestic, from the U.S. and from outside other countries. This has since shifted to be more in-line with other regions with 22 per cent of Albertans willing to welcome domestic visitors from outside of their province, 10 per cent agreeing with welcoming travellers from the U.S. and just five per cent in agreement with welcoming visitors from foreign destinations outside of the U.S. — the lowest of all regions for this category. The report notes that this negative shift towards foreign visitors is driven more strongly by rural Albertans.

The complete report is available at destinationcanada.com.

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