Myrtle Beach tourism promoters rolling out discounts for Canadian visitors

Joel and his wife Lorraine Leydier of Ontario have been coming to the Myrtle Beach area for more than 25 years.

“We love the ocean, we love the restaurants, and we love the shows. We’re very familiar with it now, so it’s like coming to our second home, almost,” he said.

They’re visiting Myrtle Beach now, but he admits that it’s been a little tougher this trip because of a troubled economy back home and the falling Canadian dollar.

“It’s a problem this time for sure. It makes everything a lot more expensive,” Joel Leydier said.

Tourism officials in Myrtle Beach, and in other warm weather destinations, are concerned the gap in the exchange rate could keep some snowbirds from traveling south this winter.

To help counter Canadian concerns, Myrtle Beach officials are in Toronto this week outlining discounts to try to help their money go further along the Grand Strand. Canadian visitors are getting only about $75 in U.S. currency for every $100 in Canadian currency they exchange.

“We know the exchange rate has been a concern,” said Susan Phillips, director of marketing for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. “So we want to provide a solution to help make it easy to overcome obstacles and allow Canadians to continue to come here.”

Phillips says they’ve mapped out a plan that will offer discounts to Canadian travelers on hotels, attractions, and restaurants beginning in January and continuing through April. Officials are announcing the program in Canada on Tuesday evening.

“We’re offering special hotel deals that can be discounted up to 65 percent,” she says, adding that other attractions, such as live entertainment venues and restaurants will also offer discounts that could total up to 30 percent. Some of those attractions include Alabama Theater, Legends in Concert, Palace Theater, Ripley’s Aquarium, Soar+Explore, The Carolina Opry, Wonderworks and others.

Visitors would have to show a Canadian passport to get the deals.

“It does make going to the U.S. for vacation or anywhere else for that matter, more expensive,” said Nick Exarhos, an economist with CIBC World Markets. There’s some debate over whether Canada -- which has struggled this year in the wake of falling energy prices -- is in the middle of a recession.

Exarhos is optimistic about the long term economy, but with the Canadian dollar worth about 75 cents compared to the U.S. dollar (plus exchange rate fees), traveling may be tight.

“It makes tourism more expensive for Canadians, for sure,” he said.

Rachael Streek-Buma lives north of Toronto and says the exchange rate makes a big difference. She and her family returned from Myrtle Beach several weeks ago; they drove the nearly 16 hours to get here.

“We have a timeshare program and we drove, so it was an affordable option for us. But to fly and stay at a hotel really racks things up. And even the cost of food is more expensive in the states than it is here,” she said.

Phillips says Myrtle Beach has always rolled out the red carpet for Canadian visitors, especially during the cold winter months up north when it’s common to see local hotel marquee signs with the message “Welcome Canadians” or “Welcome Snowbirds.” And while other destinations have expressed the same concerns about the exchange rate affecting travel, Myrtle Beach wants to offer a solution.

“We’re saying we’re affordable and we want to help our Canadian travelers come here because we do have that longstanding relationship with them,” Phillips said.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 2:00 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach tourism promoters rolling out discounts for Canadian visitors."