A survey of nearly 3000 Canadians about the continuing effects of the pandemic on upcoming holidays has revealed some interesting impacts on travel plans.
American data and tech company Numerator launched a new Canadian holiday sentiment study. Its goal is to understand how consumers plan to celebrate - and spend budgets - on Halloween, Christmas and New Year’s Eve in 2021 as the fourth wave of the pandemic, vaccination questions, and border uncertainties linger.
In addition to tallying how much Canadians intend to spend on candy and wine and gift certificates for home improvement retailers compared to previous years, the survey also unveiled interesting travel trends and comparisons with our neighbours to the south.
The Numerator 2021 Q4 Canada Holiday Survey was fielded in the last week of SEP to 2,877 Canadian consumers, and the 2021 Q4 US Holiday Survey was conducted one week earlier with 5,092 US consumers.
Overall, it comes as no surprise that Canadians are more risk-averse than Americans. 66 per cent of Canadians are planning to celebrate all the remaining holidays of the year ‘normally’, compared to 80 per cent of Americans, and for many, Christmas and New Year’s Eve involve travel.
Comfort with travel frequently mirrors comfort with group settings, and Canadian consumers remain ‘cautious’ about NYE group celebrations. Parties, gatherings with family and friends, or going out at all “are all seeing double digit point drops compared to typical years,” the survey results reveal.
In addition, the survey discovered that unvaccinated travellers are more likely to travel than vaccinated ones.
According to the survey, “While many are planning to avoid travel for this New Year's Eve (down 6 points in 2021), those who do not plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine are twice as likely as vaccinated consumers to say they would travel (13% unvaccinated vs. 6% vaccinated).”
Impending vaccine requirements for Canadians to board planes or trains, once they take effect, will limit the unvaccinated to road trips in their own vehicles - or compel them to get vaccinated.
Nonetheless, for Canada’s travel professionals, the results of the survey underscore the importance of consumer confidence - not necessarily vaccination status - for the return to travel.
Confidence-building media stories, greater awareness of supplier efforts to keep travelling Canadians safe, and knowledgeable travel advisors are all factors that may help boost those fully-vaccinated - but still hesitant - Canadians to take the plunge and return to travel.
