TORONTO — A recent survey from Snowbird Advisor shows that more than 40% of Canadian snowbirds say they will not be travelling this winter, while just over 30% say they are definitely going away for all or part of the winter. Another 25% are still undecided.

The survey, conducted Nov. 2 – 7, includes responses from 3,000+ snowbirds across Canada.

“There has been a lot of speculation about whether or not Canadian snowbirds will travel this winter, but no actual data to support it,” said Stephen Fine, President of Snowbird Advisor. “This survey helps to provide a more accurate picture of snowbird travel plans backed up by real data.”

Snowbirds who said they were not planning to travel this winter said the number one reason they decided to stay home was the risk of getting COVID-19 while away, followed by ‘I can’t drive to the U.S. while the land border is closed’, and not wanting to fly during COVID.

Rounding out the top five reasons were not being able to access medical treatment if COVID-19 cases increase in destination, and not having adequate travel medical insurance.

Among snowbirds who said they are going away this winter, 16% said they have already left, 42% said they plan on leaving before the end of the year and the balance plan to leave in January or February.

Of those snowbirds planning to go away this winter, approximately 50% are going to Florida, 20% to Arizona, 8% to California, 6% to Mexico and the balance heading to various other destinations.

Buoyed by the trend to domestic travel, 5% say they plan to travel to B.C. this year, up from less than 1% in other years.

Detailed survey results can be found here.