South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
It snowballs when ‘snowbirds’ stay
US tourism suffers as pandemic curbs winter travels
PHOENIX — This is the first winter in five years that Steve Monk and his wife, Linda, haven’t driven to Arizona fromtheir home in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
They typically leave Canada to hunker down in warmer climates for six months. They could fly, skirting travel restrictions at the border, but they’drather “freeze their buns off” than gototheU.S., whereCOVID19 infections and deaths are surging.
“It’s not worth taking a chance. It’s not nearly as bad in this country as it is downthere,” saidMonk, 69. “Pretty much every Canadian person we do know that goes down (to the U.S.) is not going. It’sprettywidespread.”
“Snowbirds” like the Monks, often retirees who live somewhere warm like Arizona or Florida part time toescape coldweather, won’t be flocking south this winter. For Canadians who drive, nonessential border travel isbanneduntil at least Dec. 21. Forsome, it’s fear of the virus.
While their absence is being felt by vacation rentals, restaurants and shops, RVparks and campgrounds are seeing an increase in campers as people travel closer to home.
Ahugechunkofthesnowbirdpopulation is Canadian. Evan Rachkovsky of the Canadian SnowbirdAssociation said most people he’s spokenwith are suspending trips to theU.S.
Butsomeare stilladamant about going.
“Some tellme just simply this is something they’ve been doing for 10, 20, 30 years, so it’s habitual in that
sense,” Rachkovsky said. “It’s a lifestyle as opposed to vacationing for twoweeks.”
For those who go, they may face recommendations to quarantine for up to two weeks, though states often don’t enforce it. They’re also going into communities where hospitals are normally busiest during the wintermonths, andCOVID19 could overwhelm them.
Health insurance hurdles are deterring retired Toronto accountant Mel Greenglass, who for almost a decade has spent four months in southwest Florida near Naples. Canadian snowbirds must buy a supplemental plan to their government- provided coverage for any emergencies during their stay. It would have been $2,800 for him and his girlfriend this season, up from $1,800 previously, and he feared
they wouldn’t be covered if they caught the virus.
It’s easier for those who don’t have international borders to cross. Kathy Scott, 73, and her 81-yearold husband intend tomake their annual drive from Salt Lake City to Arizona after Christmas.
Scott said she plans to mask up and practice social distancing to avoid burdening the medical system, addingthat she’s “nothaving any problem asking people about having been tested, about quarantining, about where they’ve been.”
Snowbirds’ plans have a huge impact on tourism. In Florida, 3.6 million Canadians visited last year, making up a quarter of its foreign tourists, according to the state tourism office. Visit Florida estimates that only 15,000 Canadians arrived between April and Septem
ber, the last month with available statistics. That’s
aboutan99% decrease from the same period last year.
The Arizona Office of Tourism said an estimated
964,000 Canadian visitors were responsible for $1 billion of the $26.5 billion in tourism spending last year. In September, visitors overall spent$752 million, down
60% from the $1.9 billion expected in a normal year.
Becky Blaine, the office’s deputy director, said it helps that many people are looking closer to home for vacation. But that will only go so far to offset the loss of international visitors.
Bobby Cornwell, executive director of the Florida and Alabama RV Parks & Campground Association, believes it’s not “all doom and gloom” for his industry. Snowbirds make up 30% of the business for Florida’sRV
parks, he said. There have been cancellations, but park operators are seeing people of all ages road-tripping.
“I really wanna hammer this home: Fromthe people we’re getting feedback from, many of our parks throughout thewholestate, for every cancellation, there’s one or two campers who come in,” Cornwell said. “I haven’t heard of anything disastrous.”
BruceHoban, co-founder of the 2,000-member Vacation Rental Owners and Neighbors of Palm Springs, saidpropertymanagerswho rentcondostosnowbirds for two- to three-month stints in the desert resort city are having a hardtime. Butvacation rentals for stays under 30 days have been “through the roof.”
Normally, rentals generate 25% of the $25 million Palm Springs rakes in from an occupancy tax. They’re now generating 50%. Between vacation rentals and hotels, the city did 5.5% more businessbetweenJuly and September compared with the same period last year.
“It’s a big shift,” Hoban said.“Theamountof people coming on vacation rentals was like nothingwehadever seen. But shop owners like Julie Kathawa, 49, aren’t expecting big business from younger vacationers. Julie’s Hallmark sells cards and gifts in Bermuda Dunes, outside Palm Springs, and already feels the crunch of fewer snowbirds, who make up about 20% of her business fromNovember to April. She’s relying mostly on online mail orders.
“I’m grateful for it, but it’s not the same. I think it’s going to help me through December,” Kathawa said.