Puget Sound Residents Planning to Focus on Family and Home this Memorial Day

Seattle, WA - Residents of the Puget Sound area plan to stay close to home and family for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.

A recent survey conducted by Ipsos MarketQuest in Seattle through the online Voice of the Northwest panel found that more than half (59%) of area residents plan to "just hang out" with family for the holiday; with 38% planning to BBQ/picnic at home. Engaging in housework/home improvement activities are also a popular planned activity over the holiday weekend (41%).

In fact, home is the place most (55%) plan to spend the holiday. For those that are planning to travel away from home, 27% will still stay close - in the Western Washington/Seattle-area.

While most residents will stick close to home over Memorial Day, most say they lead an active lifestyle. Puget Sound area residents engage in many outdoor and athletic activities at least once a year or more often, including: hiking/backpacking (56%); swimming (52%); camping (40%); and running/jogging (32%).

"While local area residents are an active group, they appear to want to spend the Memorial Day holiday just kicking back at home with friends and family," says Mary Kaye O'Brien, Vice President with Ipsos MarketQuest in Seattle. "And we also know from our exclusive Voice of the Northwest panel that local residents tend to visit other areas in Washington State - including local mountain areas - during the non-winter seasons, so they will be traveling."

Leavenworth was the most visited area of Washington-state with 82% having visited, most during non-winter season (74%).

The Voice of the Northwest panel is a research solution that allows Ipsos to get inside the minds of citizens and consumers across the region to track and measure their thoughts, opinions and behaviors on a variety of topics.

These are the findings of an Ipsos MarketQuest survey fielded from April 25 to May 9, 2013. This online survey of 320 Puget Sound residents, was conducted using Ipsos MarketQuest's exclusive "Voice of the Northwest" panel - an online panel of more than 2000 Puget Sound area citizens. The precision of Ipsos online surveys is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the survey is considered accurate to within +/-6.2 percentage points had all Puget Sound residents been surveyed, 19 times out of 20.

For more information on this news release and other survey findings, please contact:

Mary Kaye O'Brien Vice President Ipsos MarketQuest 425.586.5589 [email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is an independent market research company controlled and managed by research professionals. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has grown into a worldwide research group with a strong presence in all key markets. In October 2011 Ipsos completed the acquisition of Synovate. The combination forms the world's third largest market research company.

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