Will Cannabis Travel Flourish As More States Legalize?

In the 2016 elections this past November, California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine voters passed initiatives making marijuana legal. That brought the number of U.S. states where citizens can light up freely to eight, and opened the door for more agents to book cannabis-related trips.

The laws allow people 21 and over to possess limited amounts of marijuana for recreational use. In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana, while Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., did the same in 2014. With more states making recreational use legal, and more businesses helping promote cannabis tourism, more Millennials are including marijuana in their travel plans, said Steve Cohen, VP of research and insights at travel research firm MMGY Global.

“We’re seeing is the draw of the ability to use marijuana freely and openly,” Cohen said. “Being around more people who participate in it, or are aware of it, versus at home, might be a reason to travel to one of these states for some people.”

Lucrative consumer base
MMGY asked consumers about their travel habits this fall, right after California legalized marijuana. “We found that overall it’s flat if you look at all generations. But if you look at Millennials, its plus 23 points,” Cohen said. “And if you look at it by income, for California, the greater your income, the more likely that legalization has had an impact on your likelihood to visit. In the $100,000-plus household income category, you’re more likely to visit.”

Colorado Highlife Tours is a full-service cannabis friendly travel and tour company. Owner Timothy Vee agrees with the MMGY research, and says he has ample interest in his higher end tours, which include a chauffeured limousine, starting at $500. His research shows the average cannabis traveler spends $1,100 on hotel, tour and spending cash.”

Being the first state to legalize, Colorado saw a burst in tour companies trying to take advantage of the demand. But with too much competition, cannabis tour companies are starting to close, Vee said, since legalization in California and Nevada.

Still, Vee believes the market for marijuana tourism remains strong. That’s why he is shifting his company’s investments into two websites that provide comprehensive travel information for consumers looking to put together their own trips.

For intrepid travel agents who might want to build a marijuana tourism niche, Vee thinks there might be an opportunity. “Right now, for some travel agents, there’s still a stigma about promoting travel for the sake of recreational marijuana use, so there’s a lot of whispering from interested travel agents,” Vee said.

Then there is the possible dampening effect of a more conservative federal government, with the arrival of a new administration. Stefanie Debernardo, a travel adviser from Staten Island, NY, has researched cannabis travel for her own business, and said with the changeover this month, she is wondering whether the federal government might seek more restrictive laws.

“If more authority is granted to the states in the next few years as promised, it would most likely be safe for agents to move forward with cannabis travel,” she said. “If the opposite is true, start booking more honeymoons and destination weddings. You’ll want to stay away from this niche.”

More data
Still, the data is interesting. MMGY recently reviewed travel data for Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, looking at the likelihood of someone vacationing there as a result of legalization, and found “the interest in marijuana travel is driven completely by Millennials,” Cohen said.

Millennials demonstrated a 21-point net increase in visiting Colorado as a result of legalization, a 19-point net increase in visiting Washington, a 17-point net increase in visiting Oregon and a 16-point net increase in visiting Alaska. There is a “likelihood of them visiting simply because of legalization,” Cohen said.

In fact, MMGY research shows that somewhere between 29% and 34% of Millennials are interested or more likely to visit a state that has legalized marijuana, while the majority of the rest of the population say there is no impact whatsoever.

Twenty percent of baby boomers said they are less likely to visit those states as a result of legalization, while the net point increase for each state is in the single digits, Cohen said. For matures, “no mature said they are more likely to visit,” Cohen said, and 20%-25% said they were less likely to visit one of those states.

Men are more likely to be interested in traveling for recreational marijuana use than are women. Cohen said 18% of males, versus 8% of females, said they were interested in marijuana tourism.