Canadians On The Move For Holiday Season:
Of those taking a vacation over the upcoming holidays, one-quarter (27%) will visit another province, one-quarter (24%) will go to the United States, two in ten (20%) will vacation within their own province, and the remaining three in ten (29%) will visit other parts of the world (details in the pages to follow). Of those who plan on taking a pleasure trip in the New Year, three in ten (28%) will visit the United States, one-quarter (23%) will vacation in another province, one in seven (14%) will make a trip to Europe, one in seven (13%) will vacation within their own province, and the remaining two in ten (20%) will visit other parts of the world (details in the pages to follow).
Travel-related Internet use appears to be on the rise. In the past two years, six in ten (60%) Canadians say they have used the Internet to "get information or conduct research about destinations for pleasure or vacation trips" (up from 56% in November 2002), and one-third (33%) say they have used the Internet to "book or pay for vacation packages, travel arrangements, or hotel accommodations" (up from 26% in November 2002).
When planning a vacation trip, half (51%) of Canadians "know where and when they want to go" and half (48%) are "open and flexible to where and when so long as it fits their general vacation needs." However, when asked to think of the kind of trip they would most like to take, one-quarter (27%) of Canadians said a "warm and sunny vacation," another quarter (24%) said a "European holiday," two in ten (20%) said a "domestic holiday in Canada," one in seven (14%) said a "family destination trip such as Disney World," 6% said a "romantic holiday," 3% said a "casino holiday," and the remaining 4% found none of these to be appealing.
If they could have one travel-related present this holiday season, three in ten (28%) Canadians say it would be "a hotel upgrade from a standard hotel room to a suite," one-quarter (26%) say "a personal guide or assistant for exotic locations or sightseeing," two in ten (22%) say "a free dinner at the best or most exclusive restaurant while on holiday," two in ten (19%) say "an air ticket upgrade from coach to first class," and the remaining 5% say "other" (1%) or "none" (4%).
Asked which of a series of options is the craziest thing they would do on a holiday, three in ten (28%) said "parasail behind a boat," two in ten (19%) said "go skinny dipping in a place no one knew you," 17% said "tear up your return ticket and stay," 7% said "pretend to be someone else," and 3% said "fake an injury to get a seat upgrade on your flight." One-quarter (25%) said "none" and 2% "don't know."
These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted on behalf of Expedia.ca between November 10th and November 13th, 2003. The telephone survey is based on a randomly selected sample of 1056 Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of Canadians been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.
More than half (54%) of Canadians will be taking a vacation or pleasure trip this December holiday season, 46% will not be. Of those who are taking a vacation over the upcoming holidays, one-quarter (27%) will visit another province, one-quarter (24%) will go to the United States (Florida 6%, Las Vegas 3%, Hawaii 2%, elsewhere 13%), two in ten (20%) will vacation within their own province, and the remaining three in ten (29%) will visit other parts of the world (Europe 8%, Mexico 7%, Asia 2%, Central or South America 2%, other 10%).
- Canadians 55 and older (54%) are more likely than those who are younger (42%) not to be taking a vacation this upcoming holiday season.
- Women (49%) are more likely than men (42%) not to be taking a vacation this upcoming holiday season.
- Canadians without a university degree (49%) are more likely than those with (36%) not to be taking a vacation this upcoming holiday season.
- Canadians with an annual household income less than $30,000 (52%) are more likely than others (41%) not to be taking a vacation this upcoming holiday season.
- Canadians with an annual household income less than $30,000 (44%) are more likely than others (35%) not to be taking a vacation in the New Year.
- Residents of British Columbia (65%) and Ontario (65%) are most likely to have used the Internet in the past two years to "get information or conduct research about destinations for pleasure or vacation trips," followed by residents of Alberta (62%), Quebec (54%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (50%), and Atlantic Canada (49%).
- Canadians 18-54 years of age (67%) are more likely than their elders (44%) to have used the Internet in the past two years to "get information or conduct research about destinations for pleasure or vacation trips."
- Canadians with a university degree (79%) are most likely to have used the Internet in the past two years to "get information or conduct research about destinations for pleasure or vacation trips," followed by Canadians with some post-secondary education/a college diploma (61%), Canadians with a high school diploma (49%), and Canadians without a high school diploma (24%).
- Canadians with an annual household income of $60,000 or greater (78%) are most likely to have used the Internet in the past two years to "get information or conduct research about destinations for pleasure or vacation trips," followed by Canadians with an annual household income of $30,000-$59,999 (61%), and less than $30,000 (38%).
- Residents of Alberta (44%) and Ontario (37%) are most likely to have used the Internet in the past two years to "book or pay for vacation packages, travel arrangements, or hotel accommodations," followed by residents of British Columbia (33%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (32%), Quebec (25%), and Atlantic Canada (22%).
- Canadians 18-54 years of age (36%) are more likely than their elders (26%) to have used the Internet in the past two years to "book or pay for vacation packages, travel arrangements, or hotel accommodations."
- Canadians with a university degree (49%) are most likely to have used the Internet in the past two years to "book or pay for vacation packages, travel arrangements, or hotel accommodations," followed by Canadians with some post-secondary education/a college diploma (33%), Canadians with a high school diploma (21%), and Canadians without a high school diploma (14%).
- Canadians with an annual household income of $60,000 or greater (50%) are most likely to have used the Internet in the past two years to book or pay for vacation packages, travel arrangements, or hotel accommodations," followed by Canadians with an annual household income of $30,000-$59,999 (32%), and less than $30,000 (17%).
- Residents of British Columbia (57%), Quebec (53%), Atlantic Canada (53%), and Alberta (51%) are more likely to "know where and when they want to go," while residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (52%) and Ontario (51%) are more likely to be "open and flexible to where and when so long as it fits their general vacation needs."
- Canadians 35 and older (54%) are more likely than those who are younger (43%) to "know where and when they want to go," while those 18-34 (56%) are more likely than their elders (45%) to be "open and flexible to where and when so long as it fits their general vacation needs."
- Women (57%) are more likely than men (44%) to "know where and when they want to go," while men (55%) are more likely than women (42%) to be "open and flexible to where and when so long as it fits their general vacation needs."
- Residents of Ontario (30%), British Columbia (28%), Atlantic Canada (26%), and Alberta (24%) are more likely to say a "warm and sunny vacation," while residents of Quebec (37%) are more likely to say a "European holiday," and residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (31%) are more likely to say a "domestic holiday in Canada."
- Canadians 35 and older (23%) are more likely than those who are younger (13%) to say a "domestic holiday in Canada," and Canadians 18-54 (17%) are more likely than those 55 and older (10%) to say a "family destination trip such as Disney World."
- Canadians with a university degree (32%) or some post-secondary education/a college diploma (25%) are more likely than others (18%) to say a "European holiday."
- Residents of Ontario (32%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (31%), British Columbia (29%), and Atlantic Canada (28%) are more likely to say "a hotel upgrade from a standard hotel room to a suite," while residents of Quebec (38%) and Alberta (28%) are more likely to say "a personal guide or assistant for exotic locations or sightseeing."
- Canadians 18-54 years of age (32%) are more likely than their elders (17%) to say "a hotel upgrade from a standard hotel room to a suite," while Canadians 55 years of age and older (24%) are more likely than those who are younger (18%) to say "an air ticket upgrade from coach to first class."
- Men (25%) are more likely than women (20%) to say "a free dinner at the best or most exclusive restaurant while on holiday."
- Residents of Quebec (24%) are the most likely to "tear up their return ticket and stay."
- Canadians 18-54 are more likely than their elders to "parasail behind a boat" (33% vs. 17%) "go skinny dipping in a place no one knew them" (22% vs. 12%) and "tear up their return ticket and stay" (19% vs. 12%). Canadians 55 and older (47%) are more likely than those 18-34 years of age (8%) and 35-54 years of age (20%) to say "none."
- Women (29%) are more likely than men (21%) to say "none."
- Canadians with an annual household income of $60,000 or greater (35%) are more likely than others (25%) to "parasail behind a boat."
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For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900
