Christmas Tree Traditions Remained Merry and Bright Throughout the Pandemic, Studies Show
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a shift in the way that U.S. consumers experienced and celebrated the Christmas season from 2019 to 2021. The rise of the Delta and Omicron variants in 2020 and 2021 meant that many families had to cancel long-standing traditions, celebrate the holidays over virtual channels, or make changes to their traditional holiday events and practices.
Data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
For example, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) showed a greater percentage of Americans (30.2%) stayed home each day in the 2020 holiday season than during the previous year (21%). The study also showed Americans made 5 billion fewer trips in 2020 than in 2019 during the holiday period of December 18th – January 3rd.
To further explore this trend, the American Christmas Tree Association assessed its historical Christmas Tree NielsenIQ survey data to review how tree purchasing and display trends changed over the past three years.
Here’s what we found: Despite the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Christmas tree purchasing data from 2019 to 2021 shows that both artificial and live Christmas trees remained a Christmas staple for consumer celebrations across the country.
In total, 75% of U.S. households, or approximately 94 million homes, displayed a Christmas tree during the 2021 season.
Of these trees, 84% were artificial, and 16% were live. This represents a 2% decrease in households displaying either artificial or live Christmas trees from the 2019 pre-pandemic season, but shows that the vast majority of Christmas-celebrating households continued their tree purchasing habits throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, nearly 6.5 million households displayed both a live and artificial tree in 2021– a sure sign that there is really is no such thing as a bad Christmas tree.
“It’s important to see just how our holiday traditions take on new forms when faced with big challenges like the pandemic, supply chain congestion, and extreme weather events as we’ve seen over the recent years,” said ACTA Executive Director Jami Warner. “Looking at the survey data through this lens proves what we’ve always known to be true: Christmas trees are, and will continue to be, an integral part of Christmas celebrations for households across the country.”
The American Christmas Tree Association insights are based on data collected by NielsenIQ through an English Language Panel Views Survey sent to a representative subset of U.S. households in the Homescan Panel; results are projected to represent total U.S. households. This survey was fielded in November 2019, 2020, and 2021.
About the American Christmas Tree Association:
The American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA) is a non-profit organization that serves as a resource for media and consumers seeking information and education on the Christmas tree industry.