If you’ve recently paid for a hotel room in the Quebec City area, you’ve probably noticed that the average price has jumped 30% compared to last year. A tourism expert explains why.
“Hoteliers are in a situation where the phenomenon of supply and demand has always been normal in the tourism industry. […] Now, compared to 2021, when tourism had completely imploded, the comparison matters. The offer was extremely generous for no request,” detailed Jean-François Côté, chairman of the board of Destination Québec quoted.
Like many other sectors in the province, the hotel sector also suffers from a lack of personnel.
“There is another reality that affects us a lot, which is that of the labor shortage. The tourism industry has completely ceased operations during the pandemic. When we wanted to restart this industry, a lot of staff had already been relocated to other industries,” he added.
From July 1 to 23, the hotel occupancy rate in Quebec City was 79.9%, approaching that before the pandemic.
“We have a lot of pressure. Customers are spectacular in accepting certain compromises. The rooms are not necessarily cleaned when a guest stays a long stay, we will clean every other day. There are also many services that are limited. So the customers accept that. In Quebec, it makes it possible to accept a greater number of customers than we had anticipated, ”said Mr. Côté.
In the city, there are 14,000 hotel rooms, which explains the large accommodation capacity.
Watch the full interview in the video above.