Most Canadians ‘really need’ a vacation, poll shows. But can they afford it?

Financial woes are forcing most Canadians to scale back their summer getaway plans, though a growing number say they are still planning a vacation this year, Ipsos polling shows.

A new survey suggests that a growing number of Canadians are hoping to squeeze in a summer getaway despite persistent financial pressures.

Ipsos polling conducted exclusively for Global News released on Friday shows that 62 per cent of respondents are at least somewhat likely to take a vacation this summer, up six percentage points from similar polling done in April 2023.

Some 79 per cent of respondents said they “really need” a vacation this year, up eight points from last year.

Sean Simpson, senior vice-president at Ipsos Global Affairs, said in an interview that the confluence of crises from recent years – from affordability challenges to overseas conflicts to climate change – is “clearly weighing on Canadians.”

“And perhaps as a result, they need an antidote. And that antidote is a summer vacation,” he said.

But the desire of Canadians to get away is coming up against ongoing financial worries from years of high inflation and rising interest rates. Despite recent cooling in inflation, FP Canada’s 2024 Financial Stress index released Thursday showed money stressors remain the top concern for a growing number of Canadians.

As a result, Ipsos’ poll shows that fewer Canadians feel they can easily afford a vacation (19 per cent, down four percentage points year-over-year).

Two-thirds of respondents (67 per cent) say they’re scaling back their vacation plans for the summer due to inflation, up five points from last year. Some 64 per cent say economic uncertainty is affecting their vacation plans, and three in five say they’re prioritizing other savings instead of time away.