Updated at Friday at 9:09 a.m.
Vermont hotels are preparing for a busy holiday season.
“Advanced bookings are very strong,” said Patti Clark, innkeeper at the Green Mountain Inn in Stowe. “It’s primarily domestic travel.”
Clark said the inn’s key family units — which include townhouses, apartments and rooms with multiple beds — are sold out for the prime holiday dates, from Dec. 23 to Jan. 2. Those account for half of the hotel’s rooms.
“Those rooms have been sold out for quite some time,” Clark said. “We expect to be very, very busy over the holidays.”
Canadians could make the holidays even busier, now that the Canadian government is expected to lift testing requirements for vaccinated people returning to Canada from trips to the United States lasting less than 72 hours.
Covid-19 tests are free in Vermont, but in Canada, they have been reported to cost as much as 1,198 Canadian dollars ($950).
“Pent-up demand, proximity to major Northeast markets, and abundant outdoor recreation opportunities have Vermont’s tourism and hospitality industry well-positioned to have a strong season,” said Amy Spear, vice president of tourism at the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.
At The Essex, Sales and Marketing Director Keith McManis said Thanksgiving bookings are pacing well ahead of 2019. McManis said the culinary and spa resort is sold out from Wednesday through Saturday.
The resort is more than 80% full for Dec. 23 to Jan. 1, McManis said.
He said the resort typically attracts people from Boston, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania who drive, but he added that some Canadians are also coming into the mix.
Even in Burlington, which is not a traditional holiday destination, Linda Wolf, owner of Made Inn Vermont, a four-room Italianate guest house downtown, said she is already fully booked for the holidays.
“We are booked, and we’re not usually booked,” Wolf said. “I don’t know why they’re coming, but they are.”
The advance bookings for the holidays stand out from the way travel bookings have been made during the pandemic: at the last minute.
“The decision-making timeframe on travel decisions just compressed greatly in the last 12 months,” said Jeff Lawson, vice president of tourism and marketing at the Lake Champlain Chamber.
Lawson said people used to book travel plans months in advance, but because of the uncertainty generated by the pandemic, this year they have been making plans as little as a week ahead of time.
He said after a banner summer and foliage season, the tourism industry can expect the traditional holiday bump to return to pre-pandemic levels.
“That’ll probably be just as strong as it is in a normal year,” Lawson said. “Maybe based on what we’ve seen in 2021 so far, it might be even more than what we normally see. Fingers crossed.”
