Explorers’ Edge 2023 Visitor Survey Results

The survey was administered online from November 1 to December 31, 2023. 114 complete surveys were submitted.

Key takeaways:

• Respondents visited an average of 2.4 sub-regions. Muskoka was the most popular subregion, visited by just over 80%, with Algonquin Park in second place at just over 50%.
• Summer is, not surprisingly, the preferred season to visit. (Much focus is on building the Winter shoulder season, but a significant opportunity may also be in Spring.)
• Almost half of respondents stayed 5 or more nights.
• Larger parties tend to stay longer – 26% stayed 5 nights or longer, even though they account for 18% of visits
• Leisure dominated. But remote work outpaced business travel.
• Traditional accommodators dominate at over 70% of stays.
• Larger parties tend to be user of vacation rentals – parties 5+ account for 29% of vacation rental stays use them even though account for 18% of all stays
• There is no statistically significant difference in the level of satisfaction between those who stay in Short Term Rentals versus Traditional Accommodations
• Consistent with our 2018 Product Development Framework and subsequent identification of Key Tourism Activities (KTAs), “Nature” dominates the reasons why people love to visit.