By Lola Augustine Brown
Are you staying put this summer or are you planning to get away for a while? Four out of five Canadians (79%) say they’ll be travelling, and the majority are planning to travel within Canada, according to a newly released survey by RBC Insurance.
Among the 60% of Canadians planning to travel within the country, 62% said they wanted to explore it, with 39% citing our 150th national birthday as the reason. National curiosity wasn’t the only motive, though: almost half (47%) of those opting for Canadian travel said that it was currency exchange rates that were keeping them from going farther afield. The United States was the No. 1 travel choice among those planning to leave the country.
A lot of us plan to visit family and friends this year—that was among the top reasons cited (67%) for the desire to travel within Canada.
Not surprisingly, given who sponsored the survey, respondents were asked about travel insurance: while 75% of those planning international travel said they’d be buying travel insurance, just over half (53%) of those planning to explore a province other than their own said they would buy insurance, with 46% saying their provincial plan covered them. (That’s true to a point, but travellers should be aware that their home province may not cover every health-care expense incurred in another part of the country.)
Three out of four people polled said they’d never travel without their cellphone, so at least they’ll be able to call for help should they get into trouble outside of their home province—they’ll just have to worry about paying those pesky medical bills later.
Photo: iStock/Talaj.
