The digital audience in Canada may be smaller than that in the UK and U.S., but Canadian consumers are highly engaged. Collectively, they spend 148 billion minutes per month interacting with digital content, and 70% are consuming digital travel content.
Our new research, conducted by comScore, analyzes the path to purchase of American, British and Canadian travelers and shows when, where and how consumers in each country book a trip. While the three traveler profiles share many similarities, there are defined trends we can see within the Canadian market.
For a comparison of the three traveler profiles, you can see the full research findings here. For now, let’s look at the snapshot of the Canadian traveler.
First things first, how are they consuming content?
- There are 20 million users per month who are actively engaging with travel content on their digital devices
- The majority are consuming travel content on desktop over mobile (65 percent and 64 percent respectively), which is vastly different than users in the UK and U.S. who are on mobile more than desktop
Who are they traveling with?
- 80 percent travel with a companion
- 56 percent travel with a spouse or significant other
- 19 percent travel alone
How do they choose where to go?
- More than half (52 percent) are considering multiple destinations when they begin their booking journey
- Among millennials, this percentage is even higher with 63 percent considering two or more destinations at the outset
- The most influential resources throughout the entire journey include recommendations from family and friends (19 percent), online travel agencies (18 percent) and airline sites (14 percent)
Where do they travel to?
- Travel bookers from Canada compared to the U.S. and the UK, are two times more likely to book international trips opposed to domestic ones
- Internationally, Mexico leads the pack as a top destination among Canadian travelers, both in terms of consideration and booking. Florida is another international location with significant share.
- Domestically, Toronto is a leading destination that is purchased.
You might be asking yourself, where does advertising fit in?
Canadian travelers spend 806 million minutes on digital travel content, representing an 18% increase year-over-year. Not only are they tuned into digital content, they are paying attention to advertising; 64 percent of travel bookers recalled seeing a travel advertisement while shopping for or booking travel, which is the highest across all three regions.
Advertising not only aids awareness, it also influences purchase decisions. For 38 percent of Canadian online travel bookers, advertising was influential when considering multiple destinations for a trip. Given that more than half of Canadian travelers begin their research with more than one location in mind, this represents significant opportunity for travel marketers to influence consumers’ decisions.
For more findings and tips on how to integrate these findings into your marketing, download the whitepaper here.
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