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.
