Canadian Affair is the UK's largest

tour operator A tour operator is a business that typically combines and organizes accommodations, meals, sightseeing and transportation components, in order to create a package tour. They advertise and produce brochures to promote their products, holidays and ...

to Canada, providing services including scheduled passenger airlines,

package holidays A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...

, cruise lines, hotels, motorhome hire and

car hire A car rental, hire car or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time to the public, generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. It is often organized with numerous local branches (which allow a user to ...

. Since it was founded in 1995, Canadian Affair has flown over one million passengers to Canada. The company specialises in package and tailor-made travel to both Canada and Alaska, including rail tours, cruises, fly drives,

escorted tour Escorted tours are a form of tourism in which travelers are escorted in a group to various destinations, versus a self-guided tour where the tourist is on their own. Escorted tours (in US English) are also known as ''Guided tours'' or '' Packa ...

s, wildlife holidays, ski holidays and activity holidays. In 2017, Canadian Affair won the British Travel Awards Gold Award for Best Holiday Company to Canada (Large) as well as the Silver Award for Best Rail Holiday Company (Large). The company is based in the UK, and employs approximately seventy people in two offices located in London (Head Office) and Glasgow.

Ownership

On 14 July 2006, Canadian Affair was acquired by

Transat A.T. Transat A.T. Inc. is an international, vertically integrated tour operator with nearly 20 business units in 8 countries. The company is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In May 2021, Jean-Marc Eustache, then CEO and one of the principal ...

for £20.4 million (approximately C$42.8 million). The deal enabled Transat's airline Air Transat to fly Canadian Affair passengers, thereby securing seat sales for its flights to Canada. The agreement was made between Transat A.T. and the Airline Seat Company, which trades as Canadian Affair.

Transat A.T.

is an international

and holiday travel specialist based in Montreal. The company offers vacation packages, hotel stays and air travel to some 60 destinations in 26 countries in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Transat operates mainly in Canada, Europe, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, Mexico and the

Mediterranean Basin In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and w ...

. Transat is also active in air transportation, destination services and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

Key people

Canadian Affair approximately 70 staff in London and Glasgow. Some of its key people include: *Chris Hedley - Managing Director *Lee Rogers - Product & Commercial Director *Tom Cook - Finance Director

Operations

Canadian Affair offers flights from London, Manchester, and Glasgow (United Kingdom), as well as Dublin, to Toronto, Montreal,

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and Vancouver through its flights with Air Transat. The company also offers hotel accommodation,

Avis Avis is Latin for bird and may refer to: Aviation *Auster Avis, a 1940s four-seat light aircraft developed from the Auster Autocrat (abandoned project) *Avro Avis, a two-seat biplane *Scottish Aeroplane Syndicate Avis, an early aircraft built by ...

car hire, Rocky Mountaineer train tours, self-drive holidays, Holland America Line and Celebrity cruises, motorhome hire with Fraserway, CanaDream and Cruise Canada, and escorted coach tours across Canada and Alaska.

Awards

Canadian Affair has been recognised with several awards over the past decade, including the Consumer Favourite Tour Operator Award, which it has won for the past five years at the British Annual Canada Travel Awards. Other awards include: * 2018 - British Travel Awards - Best Holiday Company to Canada * 2018 - British Travel Awards - Best Rail Holidays Company * 2017 - British Travel Awards - Best Holiday Company to Canada * 2017 - British Travel Awards - Best Rail Holidays Company * 2016 - British Travel Awards - Best Holiday Company to Canada * 2016 - British Travel Awards - Best Rail Holidays Company * 2015 - British Annual Canada Travel Awards - Best Canadian Ski Tour Operator * 2015 - British Travel Awards - Best Holiday Company to Canada * 2015 - British Travel Awards - Silver Award for Best Rail Holidays Company * 2015 - Travolution Awards - Best Website User Experience * 2014 - British Travel Awards - Silver Award for Best Holiday Company to Canada * 2013 - BACTA Explorer Award * 2012 - CIMTIG Best Travel TV Advert - Canadian Affair is top of the Most Popular TV Advert of the Year poll launched by Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIMTIG) * 2011 - Best Tour Operator to Canada * 2010 - Best Tour Operator to Canada * 2009 - Consumer Favourite Tour Operator * 2009 - Consumer Favourite Ski Operator * 2008 - Consumer Favourite Tour Operator * 2008 - Consumer Favourite Ski Operator * 2007 - Consumer Favourite Tour Operator * 2007 - Outstanding Contribution to the Promotion of Canada * 2006 - Tourism Contribution to the province of Alberta * 2005 - Best Direct Sale Tour Operator * 2004 - Best Direct Sale Tour Operator * 2003 - Best Canada Website * 2002 - Best Canada Website

Sponsorship

Since 2006, Canadian Affair has sponsored

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

in London. Each year Canada Day is celebrated at Trafalgar Square, where live Canadian acts, food stalls, and day-long celebrations take place. Since 2017, parent company Transat has sponsored the Toronto Wolfpack Rugby League team, which Canadian Affair supports by providing flight, hotel and match ticket packages for Toronto Wolfpack and UK opposition supporters. Transat also has a partnership with SOS Children's Villages which Canadian Affair supports each year through their Big Hearts fundraising initiative.

References

External links

* * * * *{{cite web , url = http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=490&pagetype=65&appid=2&mode=detail&atolNbr=3971 , title = UK Civil Aviation Authority ATOL No. 3971 Air Transat Travel and holiday companies of the United Kingdom