Accents Hotels is cancelling the whitecoat seal observation season this year due to the absence of pack ice in the Gulf and the forecast of a weak ice cover.

Hotels Accent Sales and Marketing Director Ariane Bérubé. Photo by CFIM.

This is the fifth time it has been cancelled since 2010. Sales and Marketing Director Ariane Bérubé explains that in the future, years of ice will become the exception, pointing out that mild winters often follow one another in pairs.

Reservations were open early last fall before the second wave of COVID-19 hit the region.

The withdrawal of international bookings, which usually represent close to 90 per cent of the clientele, had been partially offset by Quebec and Canadian markets.

Bérubé explains in an interview the curfew and lockdowns, which began after the holidays, were factors that also brought forward the cancellation (in French):

But Bérubé points out that with the holiday season approaching, and with the lockdown announcements, package reservations stagnated despite the efforts of the hotel, travel agencies and Pascan Aviation (which had taken over from Air Canada as the carrier).

Although the cancellation of the whitecoat observation season is another blow to Accent Hotels after last summer's low tourism season, and after the cancellation of six conventions in the fall, Bérubé remains optimistic and confident.

She sees the past year as a period of reflection and strategic reorganization for the company's future.