Canadians expect summer to come with a higher price tag this year: survey

Will you be splurging on a summer vacation this year?

A new survey from the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of Canada has found that more than half of Canadians (56 per cent) expect to spend more this summer than in previous years.

LISTEN: Are you spending more this summer compared to last?

But CPA Canada director of corporate citizenship Doretta Thompson said the extra spending isn’t necessarily because people mean to have high-rolling adventures.

In fact, she said, in many cases it is because of the growing cost of basic necessities.

“In particular transportation costs, home energy costs and food costs,” she told CKNW’s The Jill Bennett Show.

In fact, 62 per cent said they are spending more on fuel, half said they are paying more for food and 37 per cent said they’re spending more on home energy costs.

A third of respondents said they expected to spend between $500 and $2,000 more this summer.

Two-thirds of those who took the survey said they were planning a summer vacation, with one in five planning to spend less than $1,000 and a similar number planning to drop more than $3,000.

WATCH: Summer spending could leave your budget burned

But amid rising costs, nearly half (46 per cent) said they planned to stay within their home province or territory.

“We’re seeing that most people are staying within their province or staying within Canada,” Thompson said.

“In terms of people leaving the country on vacation, the U.S. remains the top destination, with about a little over a quarter of Canadians who will be taking vacations saying that they will be going to the States.”

READ MORE: 7 ways to save money this summer while still having fun

Just over half said they will use savings to pay for their holidays, while 20 per cent said they planned to borrow money to fund their getaway.

Doretta said the number of people taking on debt to finance vacations had doubled since the CPA Canada did the same survey three years ago.

The survey also found the high cost of summer is having an impact on Canadians’ stress levels, with 40 per cent saying summer expenses were stressing them out.

The survey was conducted by telephone between June 4 and June 8, with a random sample of 1,000 Canadian adults. It is considered accurate within +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.