Toronto, Ontario — Given our geography, Canadians have a natural inclination toward road trips—so it’s surely no surprise that, according to a study conducted by Ipsos, 91 percent of Canadian drivers reported that their summer plans involve making up for the activities they couldn’t partake in while under COVID-19 lockdown.
For 77 percent of those surveyed, those summer plans involve taking an out of town road trip to, in 56 percent of cases, stay over with family or friends. Others will make a long-awaited return to nature with 34, 31 and 30 percent of respondents saying they are headed for the beach, a national or provincial park, or campgrounds respectively, this summer.
“Over the last few years, many Canadians told us that spending time in nature was the primary goal of their summer road trips,” said Toyota Canada’s corporate vice president Stephen Beatty.
“By contrast, there’s much more buzz in the air this year as people are excited to take road trips to reconnect with their wider circles of family and friends, and to once again enjoy larger-scale summer events like concerts, festivals and sporting events.”
There is a near even split between drivers who feel deterred from their road trip plans to rising gas prices, with 53 percent reporting that it has had an influence on their road trip plans.
Not only are Canadians willing to bear the added cost of fuel this year, 39 percent of drivers reported that they plan to take off more time from work than usual in order to facilitate their road trip plans. More than one third of Canadians surveyed (38 percent) said they plan to take a full week off of work for their trip.
