THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160496
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Temperatures were high this summer and the beaches inviting. But where were our northern cousins, the French Canadians?
Reeling from a recession and a sagging Canadian dollar, many ditched their U.S. vacations, said Louis Arseneault, spokesman for the Canadian Automobile Association in Quebec.
Resorts along the East Coast were stunned when the traditional wave of northern tourists never arrived. In Virginia Beach, several Oceanfront retailers say they also felt the sting of the Canadians' absence.
At Sun-Sand Wear, manager Roger Gurbani said he saw about half as many Canadian tourists this summer. And the ones who entered his shop spent less money and griped about how their money was whittling away.
``From mid-July to August, there are usually a lot of Canadians,'' Gurbani said. ``Our regular customers from Canada were complaining about the exchange rate.''
One of the sure signs of the Canadian absence is the decline in Speedo sales, he said. A full supply of Speedo's, stretchy bikinis that are mostly sold to male Canadian and European tourists, are still on the store's racks, Gurbani said.
Canadians are vital to the tourism industry here. Last year, 200,000 tourists from Ontario and Quebec spent $82 million in Virginia Beach, more than any other group of tourists. That comes to about $410 a visitor.
``Canada is No. 1 in spending in our market,'' said Ron Kuhlman, spokesman for the city's Department of Convention and Visitor Development.
Kuhlman said he hasn't noticed any drop in Canadian tourists, but he said he wouldn't be surprised by a decline because of the lopsided exchange rate. On Thursday, the Canadian dollar was worth 74 cents in the United States, down about 6 percent from last year.
An Old Dominion University survey that will reveal where Virginia Beach's 1994 tourists came from won't be released for several weeks, said ODU economics professor Vinod Agarwal. But he predicts slightly smaller numbers this year.
If Canadians weren't in Virginia Beach, hotels didn't feel it as much, said Henry Richardson, president of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association. Hotel occupancy rates remained high, falling only slightly to 92 percent in July from 93 percent in the same month last year.
Dawson Sterling, an owner of the Princess Anne Inn, said the city should be more concerned about keeping the Canadians from traveling further south.
``It's really the whole picture,'' Sterling said. ``Myrtle Beach is getting so much of it. In the '70s, you could drive down the street and see all the parking lots filled with cars with Canadian license plates. Over time, some of that has drifted back to Virginia Beach, but never back to those levels.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
by CNB