TORONTO — Tourico Holidays, which introduced an expanded presence in Canada this past spring, says its UK hotel bookings out of the Canadian market are up 35% year-over-year.

The strong rebound from Canada echoes positive showings from other major source markets to the UK, according to Tourico, including an 11% rise from the U.S. Worldwide Tourico says its UK hotel bookings are up 29% compared to 2016.

Tourico, a wholesale travel brokerage company, contracts with close to 2,000 UK hotels, making more than 50,000 rooms per night available to travel distributors around the world.

As the pound remains relatively weak, Europeans in particular are heading to the UK in big numbers, says Tourico. “There are undoubtedly some challenges – both present and future – with the viability of the UK hotel market, including a lingering fear of terrorism, higher food costs, and growing competition in neighboring countries – but despite all of that, the region continues to prosper,” said Mark Redmond, Vice President of the European Region for Tourico Holidays.

“All of the major source markets continue to view the United Kingdom as a top tourist destination and now, more than ever, is the perfect time to diversify the demand and begin encouraging other markets to book UK travel product.”

Tourico Holidays opened a new and larger office in downtown Toronto in May 2017. According to the company, the new office was necessary to accommodate its expanded Canadian teams following stellar growth; Canada as a source market for Tourico was up 58% in 2016.

Tourico’s tour operator partners here include TravelBrands and WestJet Vacations. Although Tourico doesn’t typically work with agents (unless they are also large wholesalers), agents can book its product through tour operators and benefit from “seamless service and competitive pricing”.