These days, most people don’t go out and cut down their own pine, spruce or fir for Christmas, they head to the local tree lot and buy one. But new research shows there are fewer real Christmas trees going up in homes across the country this year.
A survey from the American Christmas Tree Association finds that while 94% of consumers plan to display at least one Christmas tree at home this holiday season, 77% of them will be decorating an artificial one.
- The other 23% of respondents will be putting up a live Christmas tree this year.
- The top reasons people give for choosing an artificial tree over a real one include easy set-up and take-down (65%), consistent appearance (65%) and easy maintenance (49%).
- More than half (56%) of those surveyed say artificial trees also save money long-term.
But the switch to artificial Christmas trees isn’t new, it’s been steadily increasing for decades. According to Marsha Gray, the executive director of the Real Christmas Tree Board, the natural Christmas tree industry has been in a slow decline for 40 to 50 years. She explains that it takes an average of seven years to grow a tree, and sometimes as long as 10-15 years. “It’s part art, part science and part crystal ball,” Gray says. “You really are trying to guess what’s going to sell and how much can sell 10 years from now.”
Source: CNN