Most Canadians intend on having normal travel plans this summer, according to the 2022 edition of the annual Toyota Canada Summer Road Trip Survey conducted by Ipsos. .“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 vice president, corporate Stephen Beatty in a press release. .“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.”.The poll found 91% of Canadians plan on doing activities they set aside for the last few years. For some people, these travel plans include visiting family and friends, taking more vacation time, and going on international road trips. .The poll suggested 77% of respondents were likely to travel outside their city or town, 43% outside of the province, and 24% may go across the Canada-US border. It said 33% of Canadians with a vehicle plan to drive seven or more hours for their road trips. .Despite 53% of Canadians saying rising gas prices will influence their road trips, 47% of them say they are not affected. .Gas prices saw a sharp increase on April 1 after the Canadian government increased the carbon tax and the Russian invasion of Ukraine..The carbon tax has been raised to 11 cents per litre of gasoline, 13 cents per litre of diesel, and 10 cents per cubic metre of natural gas. .“Canadians are struggling with higher prices on everything and the least our MPs could do is cancel the cruel April Fools’ Day joke and end the tax hikes,” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano..The poll suggested 56% will travel to a family member or friend’s house. Other common destinations include another city or town (52%), the beach (34%), national or provincial parks (31%), campgrounds (30%), and cabins or cottages (25%). .Visiting family (44%) and seeing friends (43%) are among the experiences most are planning to revisit this year. This is followed by indoor attractions (28%) and festivals, concerts, and cultural events (25%). .The poll was conducted between March 22 and 23. It had a sample size of 2,000 Canadians over 18-years-old who were interviewed online with a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. .Jonathan Bradley is a Toronto-based contributor at the Western Standard jbradley@westernstandard.news
