Vacation Confidence Study Reveals That 70 Per Cent of Canadians Plan to Take a Vacation in 2024

Canadians continue to prioritize travel in 2024 despite economic challenges

Vacation confidence continues to rise in the face of financial pressures, with seven in ten Canadians saying they plan to take a vacation in 2024, according to Allianz Global Assistance's (Allianz) seventh annual Vacation Confidence Study.

The leading travel insurance and assistance provider's study, conducted in partnership with Ipsos, revealed that vacation confidence is strongest among high-income households (85 per cent), university graduates (80 per cent) and families with children (79 per cent). These encouraging travel intentions are reinforced by the 72 per cent of Canadians who say that an annual vacation is important to them.

Those over the age of 55 – who were among the slowest to return to travel in recent years – are driving the rise in vacation confidence with a 10-point increase from last year's study. Considered to be some of the country's most avid travellers, the 55+ generation has now rebounded to its 2019 numbers in terms of travel intentions.

"Canadian travellers are a resilient bunch. Despite facing unprecedented challenges in recent years, as our 2024 Vacation Confidence Study reveals, Canadians' travel intentions have fully returned to pre-pandemic levels," said Dan Keon, Vice President, Marketing & Insights at Allianz. "In line with rebounding travel volumes, we've seen a recovery in the Canadian consumer's mindset around the importance and prioritization of travel. This shift is propelling Canadians' confidence in taking a vacation this winter to a statistical high point in our seven-year survey, indicating a renewed commitment to travel."

When it comes to escaping the cold and taking a winter vacation, almost half of Canadians are confident they will take a trip this winter, up four points from 2022. The overall increase in winter vacation confidence among Canadians is again attributed to those aged 55+ who are returning to travel after being more cautious coming out of the pandemic. With this, the study suggests snowbird travel to jump back to 2019 levels in 2024.

While Canadians of all ages are clearly eager to travel, the vacation deficit is still historically higher than the years immediately preceding the pandemic. This year, 17 per cent of Canadians fall into the vacation deficit category – meaning that taking an annual vacation is important to them but they are not confident that they will take one. The deficit dropped for the second consecutive year, but a third of Canadians still have not had a vacation in over two years.

Among Canadians who are not confident they will take a trip next year, 68 per cent cite not wanting to spend the money as the primary barrier. Of those planning a trip, 60 per cent say they will be scaling back travel plans due to inflation.

"Canadians have been heavily impacted by rising living costs so it's no surprise that the study found the biggest obstacle to taking a vacation relates to financial pressures," noted Keon. "With these challenges in mind, we encourage all Canadians who are planning to travel to include travel insurance in their trip budget. It has never been more critical for travellers to protect their vacation investment, and the cost of travel insurance is a fraction of the potentially catastrophic expenses that can arise due to an unexpected medical emergency abroad. Allianz wishes all of our customers the safest of travels in the year ahead, and if the unexpected arises, we'll be here to help them when it matters most."

The Vacation Confidence Study was conducted online by Ipsos in November 2023, among a sample of n = 2,000 Canadian adults. The results are considered accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.