In Canada, food services continue to dominate expansion announcements, with Canadian businesses actively searching for new locations across the country. Food services operators are surpassing retailers in terms of expansion plans. More than half of the concepts announcing expansion fall under the food services category, particularly quick-service establishments.

Quick-service businesses plan to introduce a wide range of concepts, including Italian food, burgers, coffee shops, and healthy food options. Among retailers, health and personal care businesses have taken the lead, with a particular focus on skincare products. The apparel and entertainment categories have shown the highest demand for space, with searches reaching up to 40,000 square feet.

In the U.S., almost 2,000 restaurant openings have already been announced for 2024, primarily from quick-service restaurants like McDonald's, Chipotle, WingStop, and coffee chain Dutch Bros.

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In Canada, we continue to see rapid growth in traffic for flights overseas. Screened-passenger volumes at Canada's eight largest airports for flights to destinations beyond the U.S. saw an 11.4 percent increase in April 2024 over April 2023, and were also 11.2 percent higher than levels in April 2019.

A total of 4.3 million travelers passed through pre-board security screening, marking a 4.0 percent increase from April 2023. However, the number of screened passengers for domestic flights appears to be slowing after the surge in 2021 and 2022.

Meanwhile, U.S. airlines expect to carry 271 million passengers globally this summer, a 6.3 percent increase from last summer. This new record surpasses the previous one set in summer 2023. Over the Memorial Day weekend, U.S. airports reported a record number of screened airline travelers.