PAX named Canada’s most trusted travel trade news source in new survey

In January, Pax Global Media invited its readers to complete a survey in order to gauge a better understanding of the trade’s overall reading habits of print and online travel trade publications in Canada.

The objectives of the four-part survey included:

• Gaining a better knowledge of our audiences’ reading habits.
• Evaluating the overall perception and attributes of our print magazines, newsletters and websites and how they rate in comparison to other travel trade publications in Canada.
• Determining the visual appeal and functionality of our print, newsletter and website platforms.
• Updating our readership profile based on factors such as, but not limited to, overall industry experience, area of specialization and main area of business.

Print 

According to the survey’s results, 91.73% of Canadian travel professionals are most aware of Pax magazine compared to other print trade publications in the market. Travelweek ranked second (85.89%), followed by Travel Press (75.6%) and Travel Courier (73.48%).

Of those four publications that came out on top, Pax magazine showed the highest readership rate (76.50%), followed by Travelweek (69.50%); Travel Press (49.75%); and Travel Courier (47.25%).

Pax magazine also ranks high when it comes to design. According to the results, 31.56% preferred Pax magazine’s overall look and design; 19.5% said Travelweek; 12.37% preferred Travel Courier; and 11.76% selected Travel Press.

More than two-thirds of participants (67.97%) said they preferred Pax magazine over other travel trade print publications and nearly half (48.08%) named Pax magazine as their preferred choice if given the opportunity to receive only one travel trade publication.

Newsletters

According to the survey, 7 in 10 respondents (70.03%) ranked Pax News as their top most frequently read travel trade newsletter. In second place was Open Jaw (61.77%), followed by Travelweek Daily (53.21%), Travel Pulse Canada (30.89%) and Travel Industry Today (27.83%).

The large majority of respondents (88.59%) said that of all travel trade newsletters, they are most aware of Pax News’ daily edition.

Additionally, one-third of respondents (35.09%) said that Pax News was their most preferred newsletter as a key source for industry information.

The remaining newsletters in the market in that same category, in order by rank, were Open Jaw (22.67%), Travelweek Daily (15.84%); Travel Industry Today (9.01%), Travel Market Report (4.66%), Pax News West (4.04%), Travel Pulse Canada (3.73%), Ships Ahoy (2.48%), Press Today (1.55%) and Pax Travel Jobs (0.93%).

Websites

Nearly one-third (31.58%) of respondents indicated that Pax News was their preferred website for daily reference purposes. Next was Open Jaw (26.32%), followed by Travelweek (17.43%), Travel Press (6.91%); Travel Industry Today (4.61%), Pax News West (3.29%), Travel Pulse Canada (2.96%), Travel Market Report (2.63%), Ship Ahoy (2.30%), and Pax Travel Jobs (1.98%)

In terms of overall website design, more than half of respondents (59.04%) ranked Pax News as number one, followed by Open Jaw (55.97%), Travelweek (50.85%), Travel Press (25.26%), Travel Pulse Canada (20.14%), and Travel Industry Today (19.11%).

Profile

The majority of survey respondents (78.21%) identified their business as a travel agency. Tour operators were next (11.22%) followed by tourism offices (3.21%).

Respondents were, overall, very experienced in their field, with nearly half (46.91%) reporting a senior-level role.  Furthermore, 71.01% of respondents reported to have 10 years of experience or more in their field, with most respondents (80%) being 45 years or older in age.

The majority of travel agents (82.27%) who responded named the Caribbean and Mexico as their top specialized destinations, followed by Europe (73.91%), USA/Canada (64.21%), Asia/Pacific (36.45%), Central America (33.44%), South America (32.78%) and Africa (20.74%).

Of the travel agent respondents, more than half (56.22%) were home-based agents, and leisure/vacation travel, tours/package holidays and cruises were the top three areas of business that agent respondents specialize in.  

Additionally, the top three organizations that respondents reported to be members of were IATA (75.50%), ACTA (54.97%) and CLIA (42.05%).

Pax Global Media would like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s 2020 Canadian Readership Survey—we value your opinion!

Click here to view the full results of the survey.

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