Survey And the Survey Said… Findings from our 2016 reader survey By James Dolan & Ross Quigley Snowbird: it’s a word which everybody has heard before, but many people have a hard time defining it. The government talks about snowbirds on a fairly regular basis. Journalists and news reporters refer to snowbirds, and interview them from time to time. Some of our country’s most noted musicians even write songs about us. But beyond the standard definition – “someone who spends the winter in warmer climes” – who exactly are we talking about when we talk about the “average” snowbird? Where do snowbirds live – in summer and in winter? What do they like to do when they’re away? How do they manage their money? How’s their health? To find out, we mailed a detailed confidential survey to our members this summer and, we’re happy to announce, almost 7,700 of you replied. This is an amazing response and we thank you for your valuable time. Your answers were then confidentially compiled and we use them to both improve our services for you and better respond to your needs. What did we find? Here are some highlights: Who we are It turns out that we snowbirds are a fairly varied bunch. A good portion of us (about 49% of respondents) are between 60 and 70 years old, with a further 42% being older and 9% being younger. Most of us who responded to the survey (65%) are male, and the vast majority of us (83%) are married, with a further 6% responding as widows or widowers. Just over half of us (54%) have a university or professional degree (36% undergraduate; 12% postgraduate; 6% professional). A further 23% of us report that we went to college for at least a while. Where do we live? Ontario, mostly (49%). But a sizeable chunk of us live in B.C. (13%) and Alberta (17%). The vast majority of us are Caucasians (94%), who speak English as a first language (93%). Perhaps surprisingly, almost all of us were born in Canada (87%). Of those who weren’t, many come fromWestern Europe (48%) and the U.S. (10%); the remainder are from various places around the globe. Snowbirding When it comes to going south for the winter, most of us have been doing it for some time, but the impact of the baby boomers is starting to be felt, as 18% indicate that they are fairly new snowbirds. As for where we travel, the majority of us (88%) visit the U.S. sunbelt, with many travelling to Florida (48%) and Arizona (28%), and a significant number visiting California (8%) and Texas (4%). Texas has shown a significant drop-off in snowbird visitors since our last survey, which is troubling. Despite recent news that Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean and Mexico, are becoming increasingly popular snowbird destinations, relatively few of us spend our winters there. When we get to our winter homes, the majority of us (54%) spend between five and six months at our destination. Most of us (74%) drive our cars or our RVs to our winter home, taking between one and four days to get there. The remainder fly. For some of us, getting there is half the fun; 38% of us take short trips along the way to our winter destination. But most of us are focused on getting there. You (68%) tell us that crossing the border is about the same experience as it’s always been, although a sizeable minority (23%) report that it’s become more difficult in recent years. Family life As a group, we’re generally family-oriented people. The vast majority of us (85%) have kids, and most of those kids (79%) are under the age of 50. Most of us have also been blessed with grandchildren (87%) and a good many of us (66%) welcome our families to our winter homes when we travel there. Are pets part of the family? For most of us, the answer is no (76%). But those of us who do have a four-legged family member take him or her with us when we travel to warmer climes (78%). CSANews | WINTER 2016 | 15
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