Changing climates are making Canadians choose different vacations
Canada is famous for a few things. Good healthcare. Vast landscape. Nice people. But large portions of the country also suffer from incredibly cold, snowy winters. This leads to a veritable wonderland of winter activities to choose from. It also leads to days so cold you can barely go outside with both work and school getting cancelled out of safety concerns. This won't come as a surprise but Canadians love to go on hot holidays to get a break from the endless months of frozen bleakness.
Flight Centre Canada recently conducted a survey of Canadian travelers with the support of YouGov. The findings were interesting. Over 80% of Canadians have experienced travel disruptions in the last year, most of which were due to weather issues. A large number of those trips were to warmer climates. Additionally, 10% of travelers experienced issues with their booked accommodations due to bad weather. That's not a huge number but it is notable.
Many of the destinations with the highest weather issues are the ones most impacted by climate change, at least at the moment. This has increased concerns among Canadian travelers about booking holidays to such destinations. Apparently, 54% have concerns about weather disruptions in general while 41% actually factor them into their planning. It's a trend that will definitely impact the entire tourism industry in the long term.
This is leading to a rise among Canadians in what's being called "cool-cations." It's an awkward but accurate term. And a solid idea. The premise is to head to locations with cooler climates in the off-season. In addition to being more weather-resilient options, these plans also help travelers avoid the kind of crowds you would normally encounter in the standard hot holiday locations. Plus, most "cool-cation" destinations still have to be warmer than Canada in the winter.