Touriscope conducted an online survey in mid-July, as part of a collaboration with Experience Acadie, and is sharing its results in order to help tourism stakeholders in the Maritimes in their planning.
Two out of three Maritime residents plan to travel for pleasure in the next two months. On average, they will leave two to three times for stays of one to five nights. This is despite the fact that eight out of ten people are concerned about the COVID-19 situation in their province.
This is what an online survey conducted by Touriscope from July 20 to 26 last year among 200 residents of Nova Scotia (59%), New Brunswick (24%) and Prince Edward Island (17%) revealed to us for the benefit of Experience Acadia.
2020 a year apart: impacts of the pandemic on travel intentions
Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic is having an impact on respondents' vacation plans. In the following graphs, we can guess that the constantly changing context, in particular health measures and border closures, is causing uncertainty as much for the decision to take a vacation as when to leave and the destination chosen. Note that less than 15% of people report financial constraints affecting their vacation plans.
A majority (63%) still plan to leave at least one night by the end of September. On average, they will make two to three stays. More than a third of travelers want to leave this fall or winter. As for next year, a majority are waiting for the crisis to stabilize to plan a vacation (39%) or have no idea what their plans will look like (32%). Only 20% are sure they want to travel in 2021.
Maritime residents were also asked about their interest in visiting the various Acadian destinations by the end of September 2020. Cape Breton and Southwestern Nova Scotia attract a lot of travelers (28% and 20% respectively). However, it should be noted that residents of this province accounted for 59% of the sample. Prince Edward Island is in 2nd place in terms of travel intentions with 25% of those surveyed.
What will their stay be like?
Only respondents intending to have at least one trip by September answered the following questions. The budget for the longest stay varies greatly. The average is $851 per stay.
The preferred means of travel are cars (93%), planes (10%), buses and trains (9%), recreational vehicles (4%) and bicycles (2%).
Respondents' accommodation preferences are more mixed. The hotel is the most popular choice (43%), while camping comes in 2nd place. Although 30% of respondents consider lodging establishments to be places to avoid because of the pandemic, 78% of them should stay in hotels, motels and other forms of traditional accommodation (cottages, hostels, B&Bs).
It should also be noted that 30% of respondents will visit friends or family and that 20% will take the opportunity to spend the night there. Hence the importance of attracting this clientele who then has the potential to act as an ambassador for your destination or establishment to their visiting loved ones.
For their longest stay, Maritimes residents will travel as a couple (43%), as a family with (26%) or without children (10%), alone (13%), or as a group (8%).
National parks (53%), hiking (39%), biking (22%), and wildlife viewing (22%) will be the most popular activities.
Nearly half of travelers will eat out (48%), but just as many say they want to avoid indoor rooms due to the pandemic. They will also avoid busy beaches (67%) and group activities (58%).
To conclude
We therefore remember that despite the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, an encouraging proportion of Maritimes residents should stay for pleasure in the coming months.
As the manager of a business or organization promoting a destination, it is essential to adapt your communications and your offer to more local customers since people will make trips shorter and closer to home. If you succeed, they will then act as your ambassadors to their visiting loved ones. Do not hesitate to talk about nearby activities, since your potential visitors are interested in them.
Keep in mind that the needs and attitudes of travelers will be strongly affected by the context of the pandemic in the coming year. It is important to find a balance between promoting tourism without neglecting the safety of visitors and host communities.
Article written in collaboration with Acadia experience.
Featured image source: Elyse Turton on Unsplash
POSTED
8/15/2020