Travel
Booking.com Summer Travel Trends: Canadian Families Favor Budget-Friendly, Air-Conditioned Getaways
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With summer just around the corner, Canadian families are eagerly planning their vacations. Booking.com reveals significant trends and preferences shaping this year’s family travel season. Here are the key insights:
- Top Motivations for Travel:
- Quality Time: Almost two-thirds (62%) of Canadian families rank spending quality time as the main motivator for travelling this year.1
- Budget-Friendly: 56% of Canadian families indicate that good value for money is their top destination motivator.1
- Discovery: 42% aim to discover new places.1
- Culinary Exploration: 47% of Canadian families say they are inspired to travel to try food seen on a show or movie, highlighting the influence of popular media on travel choices.1
- Comfort and Amenities:
- Comfort is also a top priority, with 71% of Canadian families citing air conditioning as the most important amenity when booking a place to stay.
- Trending Destinations:
- Domestic: Kamloops (BC), Lac-Superieur (QC), Saskatoon (SK), Brampton (ON), and Sylvan Lake (AB) are among the top trending destinations for Canadian families.
- International: Popular international destinations include Kalamata (Greece), Alicante (Spain), Málaga (Spain), Seoul (South Korea), and Amman (Jordan).
- Travel Patterns:
- North American Travel: There is a 12% increase in travel to the U.S. and a 53% increase in travel to Mexico, with overall travel within North America up by 9%.
- Global Travel: Canada ranks 6th in families travelling to different continents this summer. Canadian families visiting South America has increased by 61% year-over-year, followed by travel within North American, and travel to Asia.
However, travel to Europe has declined by 23%, with fewer families visiting Portugal, France, Spain, and Italy.
With Booking.com, planning the perfect summer family getaway has never been easier. Travellers can arrange every element of their trip without leaving the platform or mobile app. From over 30 different category types of accommodation – from hotels to vacation rentals – to flight connections, car rental and localattractions, Booking.com is connecting the trip for travellers across the world.
For a detailed look at the top trending summer travel destinations, based on accommodation searches, including at least one child, for dates between April 22, 2024 and April 29, 2024 with check-in dates June 1, 2024 to September 1, 2024, compared to the same dates last year, see below.
Top trending domestic summer destinations for Canadian families:2
- Kamloops, British Columbia
- Lac-Superieur, Quebec
- Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
- Brampton, Ontario
- Sylvan Lake, Alberta
- Longueuil, Quebec
- Surrey, British Columbia
- Hamilton, Ontario
- Laval, Quebec
- Regina, Saskatchewan
Top trending international summer destinations for Canadian families:.2
- Kalamata, Greece
- Alicante, Spain
- Málaga, Spain
- Seoul, South Korea
- Amman, Jordan
- Warsaw, Poland
- Kissimmee, Florida, US
- Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- Daytona Beach, Florida, US
- Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Top global trending summer destinations for families, based on flight search volume3:
- Canada (4% increase in flight searches within/to Canada year-over-year)
- US (12% increase in flight searches to the US year-over-year)
- China (139% increase in flight searches to China year-over-year)
- Mexico (53% increase in flight searches to Mexico year-over-year)
- UK (18% increase in flight searches to the UK year-over-year)
- India (12% increase in flight searches to India year-over-year)
Methodologies:
1Travel Trends 2024 research was commissioned by Booking.com and independently conducted among a sample of adults who took a leisure trip with an overnight stay in the last 12 months, plan to travel in 2024, and are involved in trip planning. The sample is comprised of 32,300 respondents across 32 countries and territories, including 800 from Canada. Respondents completed an online survey in either January or February 2024
2 Accommodation searches, including at least one child, for dates between April 22, 2024 and April 29, 2024 with check-in dates June 1, 2024 to September 1, 2024, compared to search dates between April 22, 2023 to April 29, 2023 2023 with check-in dates June 1, 2023 to September 1, 2023
3 Flight searches, including at least one child, for dates between January 1, 2024 and March 31, 2024 with outbound travel dates between June 1, 2024 and September 1, 2024, compared to search dates between January 1, 2023 to March 31, 2023 with outbound travel dates between June 1, 2023 and September 1, 2023
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