Smoking And Travelling
And it is clear that many former and current smokers have had to adjust their travel arrangements at some time or another to cope with the "smoke free" impositions: 25% have chosen to take a vacation trip in a car instead of using other forms of transportation so that they would be able to smoke; 16% say being unable to smoke on public transportation such as a train, bus, or plane affects/affected their choice of vacation related to transportation; 13% say on a long plane trip, they try/tried to book a flight with a stop-over to decrease the time they have to wait between cigarettes; 10% have considered not taking a flight because they would be unable to smoke; and 8% have considered or been tempted to sneak into the washroom on an airplane to smoke a cigarette. Interestingly, twice as many (19%) have considered joining the mile high club.
Also, if they were to take a driving vacation, over half (55%) of current and former smokers, approximately one-quarter of the total population, would stop to take smoking breaks. Three in ten (31%) would smoke in the car, and one in ten (11%) say it would depend on whether or not the other people in the car were smokers. Of those who would stop for cigarette breaks, the majority (84%) say they would stop no more than every two hours.
These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Pfizer poll conducted between February 10th and February 12th, 2004. The telephone survey is based on a randomly selected sample of 1055 adult Canadians, 551 of who are either current or former smokers. 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 adult Canadian population been polled, or 4.2 if the entire adult Canadian population of current or former smokers 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.
One-quarter (23%) of Canadians say they are currently a smoker and three in ten (29%) say they are former smokers. Half (48%) say they have never been a smoker.
- Residents of Ontario (54%) and Alberta (53%) are most likely to say they have never been a smoker, followed by residents of British Columbia (50%), Atlantic Canada (44%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (42%), and Quebec (39%).
- Canadians 18-54 years of age are more likely than their elders to currently be smokers (27% vs. 16%). Canadians 55 and older are more likely than those who are middle-aged or young adults to be a former smoker (42% vs. 30% vs. 15%). Those who are 18-34 years of age are more likely than those who are older to say they've never been a smoker (59% vs. 43%).
- Canadians with a university degree are less likely than others to be a current smoker (15% vs. 27%) and more likely than others to say they have never been a smoker (59% vs. 44%).
- There are no significant demographic differences for this question.
- Former smokers are more likely than current smokers to say not having enough money has prevented them from travelling (40% vs. 27%).
- Current and former smokers who 55 years of age or older are more likely than those who are younger to say not having enough money has prevented them from travelling (43% vs. 29%).
- Male current and former smokers are more likely than female current and former smokers to say not having enough money has prevented them from travelling (40% vs. 28%).
- Current smokers are more likely than former smokers to have chosen to take a vacation trip in a car instead of using other forms of transportation so that they would be able to smoke (34% vs. 17%).
- Current and former smokers with an annual household income of $60,000 or greater are more likely than those with less not to have done so (86% vs. 66%).
- Current smokers are more likely than former smokers to feel this way (21% vs. 12%).
- Current and former smokers with an annual household income of $60,000 or greater are more likely than those with less than $30,000 not to feel this way (90% vs. 72%).
- Current and former smokers with an annual household income of $60,000 or greater are more likely than those with less than $30,000 not try/have tried to book a flight with a stop-over to decrease the time they have to wait between cigarettes. (90% vs. 81%).
- Current and former smokers with an annual household income of $30,000 or greater are more likely than those with less not to say they've considered not taking a long flight because they would be unable to smoke (92% vs. 83%).
- Current and former smokers 55 years of age or older are more likely than those 18-34 years of age to have not considered or been tempted to sneak into the washroom on an airplane to smoke a cigarette. (94% vs. 85%).
- Current and former smokers with an annual household income of $60,000 or greater are more likely than those with less than $30,000 to have not considered or been tempted to sneak into the washroom on an airplane to smoke a cigarette (93% vs. 86%).
- Middle-aged current and former smokers (63%) are more likely than those 18-34 years of age (44%) or 55 and older (52%) to stop to take cigarette breaks.
- Women are more likely than men to stop to take cigarette breaks (61% vs. 48%), while men are more likely than women to smoke in the car (37% vs. 26%).
- There are no significant demographic differences for this question.
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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
