Exchange rate, sun warm up Canadians

The annual Canadian-American Days Festival welcomes Canadian tourists to the Grand Strand every year, and every year tourism officials hope Canadians will stay longer and spend more.

Hotels, restaurants, golf courses and attractions could get their wish this year for more than one reason.

Canadians are getting a plump return on their dollar compared with years past, and some parts of Canada have experienced a winter so harsh that a 55-degree day in Myrtle Beach is bathing-suit weather.

At midday Friday, the Canadian dollar bought 75 cents in the United States, a big improvement from last year, when Canadians could only get 67 cents for one Canadian dollar in the United States. It was even worse in 2002, when a Canadian dollar only bought 63 cents in the United States.

"This year the rate is much more favorable and may allow them to stay longer and spend more dollars," said Stephen Greene, director of communications for the Myrtle Beach Area chamber of Commerce. "We also look at the weather. It's been a very long, cold winter in the Canadian markets."

Greene said travel inquiries from potential visitors are up 40 percent overall from the same time last year, while inquiries from Canadians are up 33 percent.

"We're hoping that translates into booked business," Greene said.

For one Canadian couple, a stronger dollar means the days of packing up their minivan with canned goods to cook in their hotel room are over. Bonnie and Allan Minns of Brighton, Ontario, are eating out. "The difference in the money really helps now in the restaurants," Allan Minns said.

The couple has spent much of the winter at The Mariner motel on Ocean Boulevard.

"We stayed three months this year instead of two," Bonnie Minns said. "I buy all my summer clothes down here; I've done that for years. The golf clubs are nicer here and cheaper. And we like the restaurants. We like the seafood."

The Minns were among a dozen Canadians lounging around The Mariner's pool Friday, soaking up the sun and reading pocket paperbacks. Kathleen Simpson from Ottawa swam laps while Bonnie Gordon of Kitchener wrote in her vacation journal. Front desk clerk Kinesh Patel said 31 of the Mariner's 36 rooms were rented, and about half of those were let to Canadians who come down every year for a month or more.

The Minns have been visiting Myrtle Beach since 1962.

"I think the main ingredient is the sun," Allan Minns said.

Lynn Rees Lambert, a columnist for Kingston This Week, a biweekly newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, is planning a visit to Myrtle Beach in April.

"People are desperate for warm weather, and it has nothing to do with the exchange rate. It's a bonus that it's good this year - and it is - but that is just a bonus," Lambert said. "The golfers are going no matter what.

"The exchange rate is not stopping them. The border is not stopping them. We had a brutal winter. We had weeks when the wind chill was 37 [degrees] below zero and this is southern Ontario."

Lambert said Kingston got a couple of inches of snow Friday and the thermometer hovered around freezing.

"At this point in the winter, we want something green; and the only green we have are paper shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day," Lambert said. "We've been trapped inside all winter. ... People are running to their cars now and headed for [Highway] 81 south."

Lawrence Barker, executive director of the Canadian Snowbird Association, said the worst winter weather was in Canada's maritime provinces and that spring has nearly arrived in Toronto.

Schools in Ontario are closed in mid-March for spring break.

Barker said the improved exchange rates would have a two-pronged effect.

"For the early retirees that winter in the United States for as long as six months, they have more buying power for their dollar," Barker said. "For those looking at a March break or vacation, they're able to afford more for the family."

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has kept its advertising presence strong in Canada, Greene said, even in years when visitation fell because of unfavorable exchange rates.

"We encourage everyone to role out the Southern hospitality that we're famous for to our Canadian visitors," Greene said. "For some, this feels like a second home."