Summer Travel Trends In and Out of the Office

New data from Captivate's Office Pulse panel of influential at-work consumers and business decision makers dissects the Vac-yay-tion and Vac-eh-tion plans of professionals across North America.  According to the results of the new survey deployed in the United States and Canada, Americans are obsessed with e-mail while Canadians completely unplug.  In fact, - 47% of Americans said they would monitor e-mails while on vacation, while 59% of Canadians say they won't be working at all.

As the summer season kicks off, we've collected the top insights on travel trends below.  

Can't Stop, Won't Stop … Even on Vacation

Americans have a reputation for being workaholics, and while the survey results suggest this isn't completely true, it's not quite false, either.

• Just 44% said they don't plan to do any work while on vacation, while almost a quarter of respondents (23%) said they will work for 30 minutes a day.
• 47% will look but not touch, reporting plans to just monitor e-mails.
• Only 49% of women and 36% of men say they'll completely shut off on vacation.

Canadians are much better at unplugging and enjoying their vacation time to the fullest.  In fact, only 23% say they will do some sort of work for 30 minutes a day while 68% say they won't spend any time during the day doing work.

Get Outta Town 

France famously mandates 30 paid days of vacation a year -- and 30 days the French take, while Americans and Canadians plan to take a more modest number of days off this summer.

• The most time American respondents plan to take off during the summer months is just 6-10 days.
• 7% of U.S. respondents don't plan to take any time off this summer; 51% of this group report the reason is because they don't have any vacation time.
  • Baby Boomers are living their best lives, with 36% planning on taking more than 10 days off this summer.
  • Many admins (35%) only plan to take off 3-5 days.
• 24% of Canadian respondents plan to take 6-10 days for summer vacation; 32% plan to take off 10 or more days.
• Americans may be feeling the Fourth of July spirit -- or just building in vacations around long weekends; 55% of respondents said they're taking time off in July.
• For Canadians, the most popular time to take their summer vacation is August (60%).  However, Canadian female respondents favored July (60% of females).

Vacation Behavior: Rays, Relatives and R&R

These North American neighbors aren't much different when choosing what they want from a vacation.

• Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool: 66% of Americans report planning a relaxing vacation.  Of these, 42% plan to head to the beach for summer vacation, with an even higher percentage (50%) of Millennials leaning toward an oceanfront summer spot.
  • Similarly, 63% of Canadians report plans for a summer vacation filled with rest and relaxation.  The second most popular type of trip is one filled with family time (52%).
• Translate this for us, Trudeau:  A cottage is the most popular destination among Canadian men, with 31% choosing it as their top choice for a summer travel spot.
• Vacay vice:  When it comes to indulging on vacation, 58% of Americans admitted they will "eat to their heart's content, it's vacation!" 
• The (C-)Suite life:  Executives from both countries find themselves maintaining their normal routines on vacation to a higher degree than their colleagues.
  • 37% of American C-Suite and senior executives expect to spend roughly 30 minutes a day doing something work related while on vacation.
  • 58% even say they will eat right and work out while on vacation.
  • Top executives don't plan to travel very far this summer, with 33% only planning to travel between 100-500 miles for their vacation.

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