Chase Merchant Services study* reveals august will be peak season for road-trips with air travel to take flight in the fall

Pent-up demand for travel means Canadians are planning to vacation longer, and increase spending on leisure trips

A recent study conducted by Chase Merchant Services reveals that 71 percent of Canadians who plan to travel will be taking road-trips exclusively within Canada, as August’s peak travel season approaches.  While vaccination rates and safety precautions remain a determining factor when planning travel, Canadians are ready to vacation within the next six months as a way to spend more time with family and friends after months of lockdown.

Canadians are also planning to spend more on leisure travel, averaging CAD $3,356.00, with baby boomers (adults between ages 57-75) willing to splurge an average of CAD $4,225.00.  Among domestic leisure travellers:

• 78 percent will prefer a quiet destination
• 7.3 days is the average duration
• 24 percent anticipate spending more on travel this year than a pre-pandemic year

Road trips may begin to wane as cooler weather rolls around in the fall, and Canadians will likely be more open to domestic travel by plane, especially as more of the population is vaccinated. With November anticipated as the peak month for air travel, the number of Canadians interested in flying almost doubles to 55 percent, compared with 20 percent over the summer.

While only 20 percent of Canadians are planning their domestic trips by plane this summer; the forecasted numbers more than double beginning September through to the end of 2021, with November being the peak month that Canadians (55 percent) are considering air travel. Canadians are most comfortable staying at a family member or friend’s house; however, hotels make for 50 percent of lodging plans.  54% of travellers plan to be more diligent than usual in taking more time to research health and safety protocols when determining their lodging.

Among the top health and safety expectations from travellers:

• 82 percent expect mandatory masks for hotel staff and employees
• 70 percent expect contactless check-in/services

“Driven partly by changing consumer safety expectations, the manner in which travel payments are processed has also evolved over the past 18 months.  Providing a contactless payments experience – whether by cards, through online or in-app purchases –is now table stakes for businesses whose customers have grown accustomed to this new easy and seamless payments experience,” said Marilu Gaudio, President of Chase Merchant Services. “The renewed level of interest in traveling more, combined with spending more, is validation that merchants must have their payments capabilities truly digital and contactless.”

^{* The Consumer Pulse Poll of 600 Canadians was conducted by Audience Research & Development (AR&D) on behalf of Chase Merchant Services. Data was collected between April and May of 2021.}