Vacationing closer to home
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Canadians' tourism spending at home fell 0.1% in 2009, the first annual decline in domestic tourism spending since 1991. While spending increased in the second half of the year, it was not enough to offset lower spending in the first half.
During this period, the term 'staycation' was coined to describe the growing tendency of Canadians to take vacations at home. With the downturn in economic conditions in late 2008, Canadians began cutting back on both their business and leisure travel. They continued to show restraint in 2009, resulting in decreased spending on domestic passenger air transportation (-1.4%), rail travel (-10.2%) vehicle rentals (-3.3%) accommodation services (-1.1%) and travel services (-3.4%).
These declines did not occur across the board, however. Domestic spending on several items increased including recreation and entertainment (3.4%), vehicle fuel (2.3%) and other non-tourism commodities such as groceries, alcohol and clothing (0.4%). The higher spending on these commodities indicates that Canadians toured closer to home in 2009.
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