Snowbirds staying put is another tourism hit
Some Canadians fear higher U.S. virus risk
PHOENIX — This is the first winter in five years that Steve Monk and his wife, Linda, haven’t driven to Arizona from their 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’d rather “freeze their buns off” than go to the U.S., where COVID-19 infections and deaths are surging.
“It’s not worth taking a chance.
It’s not nearly as bad in this country as it is down there,” said Monk, 69. “Pretty much every Canadian person we do know that goes down (to the U.S.) is not going. It’s pretty widespread.”
“Snowbirds” like the Monks, often retirees who live somewhere warm like Arizona or Florida part time to escape cold weather, won’t be flocking south this winter. For Canadians who drive, nonessential border travel is banned until at least Dec. 21. For some, it’s fear of the virus.
While their absence is being felt by vacation rentals, restaurants and
shops, RV parks and campgrounds are seeing an increase in campers as people travel closer to home.
A huge chunk of the snowbird population is Canadian. Evan Rachkovsky of the Canadian Snowbird Association said most people he has spoken with are suspending trips to the U.S.
But some are still adamant about going.
“Some tell me 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 two weeks.”
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 winter months, and COVID-19 could overwhelm them.
It’s easier for those who don’t have international borders to cross. Kathy Scott, 73, and her 81-year-old husband intend to make their annual drive from the Salt Lake City area to Arizona after Christmas.
Scott said she plans to mask up and practice social distancing to avoid burdening the medical system, adding that she’s “not having 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 September, the last month with available statistics.
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 percent from the $1.9 billion expected in a normal year.