Over 50% of Canadians have lost desire to travel abroad due to COVID: survey

Canadians have lost some of their appetite to travel outside the country because of COVID.

Since the pandemic began two years ago, just 18.7% of Canadians have left the country, according to a survey done by an insurance comparison website.

The survey found that 50.5% of Canadians no longer have the same desire to travel abroad that they did pre-pandemic, while 48.7% still feel the same desire. The survey results suggest a large number of Canadians are reluctant to travel due to the fear of facing health restrictions once at their destination.

Even within Canada, 40.8% of the population will not travel at all this year, while 12.6% of Canadians plan on travelling within the country. Furthermore, 15.7% of Canadians want to travel within the continent while 30.9% plan on travelling to another continent.

READ MORE: Canadians tentatively re-embrace travel as COVID-19 border measures loosen

The most popular destination for Canadian travellers, unsurprisingly, is the United States. The second most popular destination is Italy, followed by Mexico. The Dominican Republic, Cuba, France and North African countries also ranked high among sought-after destinations.

HelloSafe said it conducted the survey of 726 people from its website from Feb. 22 and March 7.

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