Outdoor organizations and regional parks are expecting a good winter season, despite the remaining uncertainties.
“We remain positive, we expect a good winter,” says Pierre Gaudreault, general manager of Aventure Écotourisme Québec. It is believed that the rush for the outdoors that we saw last summer will continue. People who have tried the outdoors are going to want to come back, and new followers are expected to come as well. ”
Last October, the firm Segma Recherche conducted a survey of 1,005 Quebecers to find out their habits. About 71% of respondents at least occasionally practice adventure and outdoor activities in Quebec. For 68%, it was a habit already acquired before the pandemic, while 3% began to practice such activities thanks to the pandemic.
More than half of these active Quebecers, or 54%, go hiking in the mountains in winter. Tube sliding and skating on forest trails are also popular, with 46% and 45% of respondents, respectively. This is followed by cross-country skiing (38%), downhill skiing or snowboarding (35%), snowmobiling (29%), off-piste skiing (24%), dog sledding (23%) and cycling with oversized tires (fatbike) winter (20%). About 19% of active Quebecers go ice climbing.
The last few weeks have seen uncertainties emerge about new variants of COVID-19, but Mr. Gaudreault is not overly concerned. “It couldn’t be worse than last year! He recalls that at the beginning of last winter, outdoor activities could only be practiced within a family bubble. It is now possible to reunite with several families, or to go with a group of friends and do activities or rent a shelter. “It’s more accessible now,” he says.