Traveling Canadians: staying home
For Canadian tourists this summer, the choice is their own country over the US.
Roughly two out of every five Canadians, or 43%, plan to take a summer vacation, and stay closer to home, according to the results of a recent Scotiabank study on travel intentions.
The survey highlights that Canada, rather than the United States or overseas, is the preferred travel destination of choice. While Ontario (12%), British Columbia (9%) and Quebec (8%) are the top travel locales, the survey indicates that a significant number of Canadian travelers intend to vacation in their home province.
This is good news for the Canadian tourism and travel industry, said Aron Gampel, Deputy Chief Economist of Scotiabank. The industry is now recovering from a multi-year slump caused by a variety of health-related ailments, rising gasoline costs, and even the NHL lock-out.
“The survey results appear consistent with emerging trends in the Canadian economy,” said Mr Gampel, who added an improved economy is helping to spur more spending.
The amount that travelers plan to spend this summer varies according to travel destination and other factors. The poll, however, says that Canadians expect to spend an average of $2500 on their summer vacation.
Transportation and accommodation costs account for the biggest share of expenditures.
According to the poll, while on vacation, 33% of Canadians are planning to do some site seeing, 23% will be catching up with relatives and 21% will be spending time in the outdoors including camping.
The travel and tourism industry is a $38 billion industry in Canada, judged by how much Canadians spent on domestic related tourism last year.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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