Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Camden B. | Delivered May 23, 2020

United States Tourists - Where do they Escape to in the Winter?

Goals

Conceptually, to understand whether in the winter months, whether tourists from the United States are more likely to travel to One: warmer places or Two: places where they can enjoy the snow/winter experiences. An ideal response would include information, data, and/or statistics surrounding whether tourists from the United States are more likely to seek out trips to warm places during the winter months (escaping the cold), or to places where they can enjoy snow/winter experiences (embrace the cold).

Early Findings

There are two types of winter tourists: those who escape cold weather and those who embrace it. It should be noted that the information presented here is pre-COVID-19. There is nothing publicly available that even predicts whether future travelers will tend to flock to warm places or colder places during the winter of 2020/21 or beyond.

 Twenty-three percent of Americans prefer to go on vacation during the winter, instead of during the summer months, according to research conducted by flight-comparison site Jetcost. The key reasons cited were the lack of tourists, to get away from the bad weather, and the lower costs. We can surmise from this that the ones that replied by saying they wanted to get away from the bad weather during the winter, means that these people want to go to a warm destination.
Of the twenty-three percent that revealed that they prefer to go away in the winter, the reasons for doing so were broken down in this manner:  “there are fewer tourists” (27%), “to get away from cold weather at home” (22%) and “lower costs” (18%).
In this same survey, "when asked what their favorite kind of vacation was, just 12 percent of Americans chose “beach vacations,” with the most popular found to be “sightseeing” (22%), “city break” (19%) and “an adventure-based break” (15%)."
Americans remain keen on winter vacations and in particular ski trips. Getting on the slopes remains the primary motivator for winter travel, but many other activities are high on the list, proof that a ski vacation is about much more than just skiing, according to a Nielsen poll of 774 travelers in the Northeastern United States, Ontario, and Québec.
 Two out of three Americans had planned to travel during the winter of 2019/2020, 4 percent more compared to last year, according to WalletHub's 2019 Winter Travel Survey.
 Seventy-nine percent of Americans would consider taking a long distance international trip during winter, and among those who would, forty-seven percent would consider it because they are seeking a change in weather.
 Forty percent of Millennial travelers are likely to visit a beach resort.
 Thirty-five percent of Americans typically travel to a warm vacation destination during the winter months "as an attempt to escape the winter blues."
 Eighty-eight percent think traveling to a warm destination during the winter "boosts their mood."
Over the course of the entire winter season, seventy-two percent report feeling of sadness, with those aged 36–48 more likely to feel that way in the winter months. Of those surveyed, an overwhelming majority of ninety-one percent feel like traveling somewhere warm during the cold winter months.
According to this same study, "Americans are turning to warm travel destinations because they are tired of what the brutal winter weather brings. Thirty-five percent of those studied say having their umbrella break during a heavy rainstorm and getting to work soaking wet are the worst things about winter.
 Thirty-three percent dislike that winter brings dark mornings and another third similarly agree that never seeing daylight is a winter dislike."
Summary Of Our Early Findings Relevant To The GoalsOur initial hour of research provided some statistics surrounding the questions asked.
Please select one or more of the options provided in the proposed scoping section below.