Canadians Are Ready For The Holidays

With the holidays just around the corner, KAYAK took a look at when, where and how Canadians will be travelling during the winter of 2016-2017.

To begin with, KAYAK notes, Canadians are living for more than just the weekend. In fact, Canadians are taking an average of 10 vacation days – three days longer than fellow US and UK travellers.

That’s similar to the pattern of 2015-2016, and KAYAK said it anticipates Canadians will be taking this time between Dec. 1, 2016 and Jan. 9, 2017.

International destinations are high on the list, with KAYAK reporting a 50 per cent year-over-year growth in international versus domestic destination interest.

And despite Fort Lauderdale taking an early lead as the most popular holiday destination, Canadians have less interest in keeping close to home with a yearly decrease in the number of US and Canadian cities found on Canada’s top winter destination list.

Compared to last year at this time, interest in US travel is down by 30% while destinations like London are gaining significant momentum.

And this winter, it’s all about sun as Canadians are looking to catch more rays with new locations like Cancun and Honolulu making the list of top winter destinations in this holiday travel forecast; while cities like Las Vegas and New York are trailing in traveler traction.

KAYAK’s Debby Soo noted that: “Last year, Canada proved to be a procrastination nation as KAYAK’s data revealed Canadians were a few weeks behind travelers in the US, France, Denmark and the UK. We always recommend planning in advance as starting earlier could save Canadians some extra cash – and headaches. Using tools like Price Alert can also help travelers stay within budget this season.”