Canadian Travel Behaviour Close to Pre-Pandemic Norms
New travel data shows a significant increase in Canadian’s’ travel activity across Canada. People are spending more time outdoors as restrictions are lifted and businesses re-open.
Travel activity has increased compared to the first week of reported numbers to the week of May 18-24. Edmonton had the highest increase with 18 percentage points, Ottawa with 6 points, Montreal and Halifax 13 points, Calgary 12 points, Vancouver 11 points followed by Toronto with 9 points. The 7-market average for this period had a 13 percentage point increase.
Over the last three weeks, May 4-10 to May 18-24, Montreal had the highest increase of 16 percentage points. Ottawa and Halifax are up 13 points and Toronto is up 10 points. The western markets had modest increases with Calgary up 4 percentage points, Vancouver up 6 points, and Edmonton up 7 points.
Three out of four people are reported to be on the roads in Edmonton and Halifax as they hit -26% and -25% from baseline numbers, during the week of May 18-24.
The 7-market average for the week of May 18-24 increased to -30%, that’s roughly seven out of ten people on the roads. The numbers are up 10 percentage points from the beginning of May and 29 points from the lowest period of April 6-12.
A significant number of malls, restaurants along with some other businesses opened mid-May and the beginning of June. As this roll-out continues and provinces reach their various re-opening phases, travel patterns will continue to change and are expected to increase.
COMMB is the national organization for the Canadian OOH industry comprised of advertisers, advertising agencies and OOH companies. COMMB is responsible for developing and verifying audience measurement methodologies, providing audience data and planning resources, marketing and communications, government relations and member services.
COMMB continues to track weekly travel behaviour across these seven CMA’s. Data over nine weeks, starting in January through to March 15, 2020 was used as a baseline to calculate the % difference by week. Data compiled from over 12,000 geo-fenced Outdoor advertising faces and mapping software that provide driving directions.
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