The travel category is effectively two industries sharing a label. Hotel brands—Fairmont and Four Seasons—both score above the national average, improved or held on multiple GCBI dimensions, and are outperforming the broader market. Airline brands—all five of them—scored below the national average in 2026, and every one declined year-over-year. Without the airlines, the travel category would rank 4th among all 12 GCBI industries. With them, it ranks 9th. The travel category's chronic below-average standing is an airline story, not a travel story—and the two subcategories are growing further apart, not closer together.
The category's most analytically striking finding belongs to VIA Rail. A passenger train service outscores every commercial airline on every GCBI dimension—Friendliness, Niceness, Respectfulness, Honesty, Tolerance, Adventurousness, and Sustainability—for the second consecutive year. VIA Rail also scores higher among women than men, the only travel brand with this profile, and it leads the category among Millennials by 1.57 points over the best-ranked airline. The brand's perception advantage over its airline competitors is not niche or marginal — it is consistent, broad-based, and appears to be underutilised in how VIA Rail communicates its competitive position. Air Canada, at the other end of the category, ranked 127th of 130 brands nationally—4th from last in the entire GCBI.
Alberta and Atlantic Canada both declined sharply for the travel category in 2026, consistent with the pan-GCBI regional pattern documented across every industry in this report series. Ontario held nearly flat—the only regional market of relative stability. The full GCBI Travel Industry Report covers all eight brands across every demographic and regional segment, including the hotel subcategory's Sustainability improvement, the political profiles of Four Seasons and WestJet, and five strategic implications for brands navigating Canada's travel perception landscape.
The travel category is effectively two industries sharing a label. Hotel brands—Fairmont and Four Seasons—both score above the national average, improved or held on multiple GCBI dimensions, and are outperforming the broader market. Airline brands—all five of them—scored below the national average in 2026, and every one declined year-over-year. Without the airlines, the travel category would rank 4th among all 12 GCBI industries. With them, it ranks 9th. The travel category's chronic below-average standing is an airline story, not a travel story—and the two subcategories are growing further apart, not closer together.
The category's most analytically striking finding belongs to VIA Rail. A passenger train service outscores every commercial airline on every GCBI dimension—Friendliness, Niceness, Respectfulness, Honesty, Tolerance, Adventurousness, and Sustainability—for the second consecutive year. VIA Rail also scores higher among women than men, the only travel brand with this profile, and it leads the category among Millennials by 1.57 points over the best-ranked airline. The brand's perception advantage over its airline competitors is not niche or marginal — it is consistent, broad-based, and appears to be underutilised in how VIA Rail communicates its competitive position. Air Canada, at the other end of the category, ranked 127th of 130 brands nationally—4th from last in the entire GCBI.
Alberta and Atlantic Canada both declined sharply for the travel category in 2026, consistent with the pan-GCBI regional pattern documented across every industry in this report series. Ontario held nearly flat—the only regional market of relative stability. The full GCBI Travel Industry Report covers all eight brands across every demographic and regional segment, including the hotel subcategory's Sustainability improvement, the political profiles of Four Seasons and WestJet, and five strategic implications for brands navigating Canada's travel perception landscape.
