2020 Travel Trends: Skyscanner Predicts Five of the Trendiest Destinations for Canadians in the New Year

TORONTO, Jan. 27, 2020 /CNW/ - New year, new you, new travel destinations to explore. With 2019 in the books, Skyscanner – the company leading the global transformation to modern and sustainable travel – analysed Canadian traveller data to determine where Canadians have been, where they'll go next, and what the best value destinations are in 2020.

The road less travelled: Emerging destinations 
According to the 2020 Canadian Travel Trends Report, a study of 1,500 Canadians commissioned by Skyscanner and conducted by research firm Maru/Blue, more Canadians plan to travel in 2020. Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of Canadians intend to travel this year, compared to the two-thirds of Canadians (66 per cent) who travelled in 2019.

"Canadians are planning to take the road less travelled in 2020," said Juliano Lopez, Head of Research & Insights at Skyscanner. "While Southeast Asia has historically been a popular destination, Canadians have an increased interest in visiting Caribbean getaways and European countries. They're focused on destinations that could be considered off-the-beaten-path compared to crowded city squares and tourist areas."  

These are the top five emerging travel destinations from Canada in 2020, as determined by year-over-year growth in bookings:

1. Fort-de-France, Martinique (+386%)
2. Málaga, Spain (+188%)
3. Kahului, Hawaii, United States (+104%)
4. Porto, Portugal (+67%)
5. Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe (+60%)

The top 10 travel destinations for Canadians in 2019 included New Delhi, India; Paris, France; London, United Kingdom; Manila, Philippines; Cancun, Mexico; Toronto, Canada; New York City, United States of America; Bangkok, Thailand; Dublin, Ireland; and Vancouver, Canada.

Spend a little, save a lot: Best value destinations
Affordability plays a large role in vacation planning. With the fares below decreasing upwards of 18 per cent, these are the best value destinations when flying from Canada in 2020:

1. Havana, Cuba (-28%)
2. Fort-de-France, Martinique (-24%)
3. Lisbon, Portugal (-22%)
4. Miami, Florida (-21%)
5. Athens, Greece (-18%)

"Whether you're looking to make the most of your time with a weekend getaway or get the best bang for your buck on a limited budget, Skyscanner offers a comprehensive range of flight, hotel and car rental options for every traveller and budget, making it easier and more affordable than ever to plan a dream vacation," said Lopez.  

To book your next trip or learn more about Skyscanner's 2020 Travel Trends, visit Skyscanner.ca.

About Skyscanner
Founded in 2003, Skyscanner is a leading travel company dedicated to putting travellers first by making booking trips as simple as possible. Skyscanner helps more than 100 million people in 52 countries and over 30 languages find the best travel options for flights, hotels and car hire every month. Skyscanner is available on desktop, mobile web and its highly rated app has 100 million downloads. Working with 1,200 travel partners, Skyscanner's mission is to lead the global transformation to modern and sustainable travel. After multiple high-profile investment rounds, including from Silicon-Valley based Sequoia Capital, Skyscanner was acquired by Ctrip Group in a deal valued at £1.4bn in 2016. For more information, visit: https://www.skyscanner.ca/about-us.

Study Methodology
From November 25 to November 26, 2019 an online survey of 1,519 randomly selected
Canadian adults who are Maru Voice Canada panelists was executed by Maru/Blue. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been weighted by education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) to match the population, according to Census data. This is to ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

Data Collection Methods: Skyscanner
Data for this report is based on searches and bookings on the Skyscanner website and application across the world. Term 'booking' within the report refers to a redirect made on the Skyscanner platform (i.e.: when a traveller selects a flight option with a partner on the Skyscanner booking panel). Emerging destinations for the next year are predicted based on growing popularity of destinations from 2018 to 2019. For the purpose of the study, comparison was done specifically between periods of 01.10.2017 - 10.09.2018 and 01.10.2018 - 10.09.2019. Change in popularity is based on normalized data and in fact shows change in comparative popularity of destinations in two periods. Price change is calculated by how much the average flight price has increased or decreased in 2019 when compared to the average flight price in 2018, unless otherwise stated.

SOURCE Skyscanner.ca