COVID-19 Remains A Holiday Travel Concern

While Canadians are eager to see their extended family and friends this holiday season, it’s not without concerns of COVID-19 exposure.

That’s one of the top line findings in the PayPal Canada 2021 Holiday Giving Study.

In that study, PayPal Canada found that only one in 10 Canadians who responded feel like the holidays will be back to normal this year while majority believe the pandemic will affect their celebrations. It also found four in 10 (39%), plan to celebrate the holidays this year by visiting family or friends at their homes, and a third (30%) will host extended family this year.

Over half (58%) of Canadians polled will only celebrate with guests who are double vaccinated against COVID-19 with nearly one in 10 (9%) saying they will ask their guests to take a COVID-19 test before arrival regardless of their vaccination status. One in five (21%) are anxious about hosting people because of health concerns.

For most, though, travel is not in the cards this season.

While many Canadians usually get away for the holidays, fewer will this year — nearly a fifth (17%) who responded said the pandemic has placed a dampener on their holiday travel plans and 12% will travel less because of the extra costs of COVID-19 testing.

The survey also looked at consumer shopping behaviour and charitable giving as well.

It was conducted by OnePoll with a sample of 1,500 Canadian adults in November 2021.