British Columbians are less likely than other Canadians to take a winter vacation but those who do get away expect to spend 29% more than the national average, according to an online survey conducted by Ipsos in early November and sponsored by travel insurance company Allianz Global Assistance.
Canadawide, 42% of the 2,000 respondents said that they planned to take a vacation in the months of December through March while only 37% of 268 B.C. residents said they intended to go on a vacation in those four months.
British Columbians, instead, disproportionally plan to take vacations in other times of the year, given that 67% of B.C. residents plan to take at least one annual vacation and that is very close to the national average of 68%.
The poll did not delve into the rationale for why British Columbians do not plan to take a vacation in the winter.
So it was not clear whether B.C. residents’ comparative ambivalence about taking a winter vacation was tied to the presence of great ski hills that are close enough that a vacation is not necessary, whether it was because B.C.’s largest cities tend to have mild weather in the winter or whether it was because of other reasons.
“One concern for Canadians considering travel in winter could be the costs of cancellation, especially when you look at the average cost Canadians say they will spend on a winter vacation: $2,593.20 per household,” said Dan Keon, who is director of marketing and communications at Allianz, which provides travel insurance.
British Columbians who are readying for a winter excursion plan to spend $3,342.70 per household on average.
The survey, however, did not ask whether travellers intended to buy travel insurance.
Keon told Business in Vancouver that his company plans to make this an annual survey and that in future, it will ask about rationale for taking or not taking vacations and whether travellers plan to buy travel insurance.
Only 70% Canadians said that taking an annual vacation is important to them and the vast majority of those people – 83% – said they intended to take an annual vacation.
That left what Keon called a “vacation confidence deficit” of 17%.
“The survey allowed us to quantify the existing vacation confidence deficit, but also showed that 36% of Canadians haven’t had a vacation for more than two years,” he said.
“Clearly many Canadians, all across the country, are in need of a well-deserved break.”
The survey did confirm that taking vacations is tied to wealth. Respondents who are in Canadian households that have an annual income in excess of $100,000 were the most likely, at 59%, to say that they plan to take a winter vacation.
