Canadians still avoiding Palm Springs

Tourism sector feels the chill from snowbirds unhappy with Trump

- BY HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS

MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times BANNERS in Palm Springs last year show support for Canadians, who spend millions in the region.

It is the peak of the so-called high season in Palm Springs, that busy time of year when the glorious winter sunshine beckons Canadian snowbirds who flock to enjoy desert condos, golf courses and poolside martinis.

Most years.

Palm Springs has felt a chill this winter from Canadian tourists, who are largely boycotting travel to the United States because of their disdain for President Trump and his aggression toward their country.

“Our friends at home said, ‘No, don't go!’” said Lois Chapman, a longtime annual visitor from Ontario province who came to Palm Springs this month for a shortened stay with her husband after initially planning to cancel their trip altogether.

Chapman said that her flight from Toronto in early February was mostly empty and that there was a palpable decline in Canadian tourists in the desert town.

“Canada, I think, is just feeling hurt. It’s the climate these days,” said Chapman, a septuagenarian who was volunteering for Modernism Week, a Palm Springs festival celebrating midcentury architecture and design.

Canadians — who pump millions of dollars into the economies of Palm Springs and other Coachella Valley cities — often book long stays up to a year in advance, providing a measure of stability for hoteliers and Airbnb owners, said Kenny Cassady, director of business development for Acme House Co., which manages vacation rental properties in the region.

This winter, tourist-oriented businesses are having to adjust to more uncertainty, he said.

With more Canadians staying home, those reliable long stays have been replaced by shorter reservations, booked at the last minute, primarily by domestic travelers, said Cassady, who also is a board member for Visit Greater Palm Springs, a tourism marketing agency for the Coachella Valley.