Tourism Talk | Bill would allow Canadians to stay longer in US

Canadians would be able to stay in the United States longer each year under a bill being considered by Congress, which officials say could mean more business for the Grand Strand.

There’s a push in Washington, D.C., to extend the six-month limit on Canadians’ visits to the United States to eight months, with bills introduced in the Senate and the House of Representatives in the past two months, said Mike MacKenzie, executive director of the Canadian Snowbird Association.

“That would even be more money in your pockets,” he said earlier this month while in D.C. lobbying for the measure’s approval.

Canada is the strongest international market for the Grand Strand, which even celebrates the United States’ northern neighbor every spring with the Canadian-American Days Festival. It’s not unusual, especially during the spring and winter, to see Canadian flags flying along with U.S. flags at some hotels and resorts along Ocean Boulevard as Canadian snowbirds come here for several months to escape the harsh winters at home.

Early bird snowbirds already have checked in, but most are expected to arrive in early January – giving hotels and restaurants crucial off-season business. Snowbirds typically leave in late March or April.

In 2010, Canadians made 848,500 visits to South Carolina, spending about $268 million while here, according to Statistics Canada. Officials don’t know how much of that business was along the Grand Strand, but local tourism trackers guess that a big chunk of it was here.

“It’s a really big market for us,” said Elaine Michaud, international sales manager for the Myrtle Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The bureau has stepped up its efforts in Canada in recent years after facing increased competition from the Caribbean trying to snag Canadian visitors, Michaud said. The bureau added a sales representative based in Oakville, Ontario who focuses on the Canadian market, including tour groups and leisure travelers, Michaud said.

Most Canadians who come to the Grand Strand don’t stay six months, but the area could benefit from an eight-month limit if Canadian travelers headed to Florida stop here on the way and stay longer – say a month instead of two weeks -- before going the rest of the way, said Nora Hembree, spokeswoman for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

“It allows for that potential,” she said. “Certainly anything like this is good news, I think.”

The bill likely will be voted on in May, MacKenzie said.

Travel forecast

Folks in the Carolinas planning to travel for Christmas or New Year’s will get an overview of how busy the roads and skies might be when AAA Carolinas releases its holiday travel forecast Tuesday.

If the national predictions are any indication, it’s going to be hopping.

Nationally, 30 percent of the U.S. population will travel between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2 – about 91.9 million Americans, up 1.4 percent over the year-end holidays last year, AAA predicted in the national forecast released last week. If that pans out, it will be the second highest year-end travel volume in the past 10 years, AAA says.

The recession and ongoing economic uncertainty hasn’t kept most folks from traveling for Christmas and New Year’s this year or in the past few years, with travel for those holidays increasing each year since 2008, according to AAA.

For the upcoming holidays, most travelers will drive to their destinations, logging an average 726 miles, AAA says. Air travel is expected to be down nearly 10 percent from a year ago, with holiday airfares expected to be 21 percent higher than last year, according to AAA’s Leisure Travel Index.

The Thanksgiving holiday was a busy one for travel in the Carolinas, representing the first increase in holiday travel in 2011 compared with last year.

As with those who traveled for Thanksgiving, those flying out of Myrtle Beach International Airport for the upcoming holidays should plan to arrive early, carpool or have friends drop them off, airport spokeswoman Lauren Morris said. The ongoing construction of the terminal has shifted parking, though she said there are still enough spaces to accommodate the holiday rush.

Also next week, local tourism trackers will have a better idea how many of those holiday travelers might be headed to the Grand Strand to celebrate. Check MyrtleBeachOnline.com Tuesday for AAA Carolinas’ predictions and what you need to do to prepare to hit the road.