Snowbird Resorts

We surveyed Canada Snowbirds and dozens of RV resorts to see if snowbirds were canceling this year's migration to their annual RV spots in the sun. What we found was that, regardless of the repeated attacks on Canada's sovereignty by the current US Administration or the ongoing tariff war not to mention the woeful travel budget economics of a low Canadian dollar, some RV snowbirds, (approximately 71%) are continuing their annual winter migrations to hotspots down south.  Make no mistake though, the drop of approximately 29% for RV park operators in Florida has proved to be a big hit to their 2025/26 revenue forecast. RVers with pre-paid, leased or purchased RV lots in American RV parks say they have no other option but to head to their traditional spot. Many followers on our social media channels and via our email surveys are telling us that if they don't go to their RV spots in the US, they will still be left paying monthly resort fees, lease payments, financing charges, property insurance, cancellation fees, maintenance etc thus they won't have funds to go elsewhere due to these prior commitments plus many won't be getting rental monies from renting out their Canadian condo or home property during the winter via booking sites like Air BnB. Many people especially in urban or resort locations in their home provinces have already rented out their Canadian homes for this winter. Linda French, a snowbird from Canmore Alberta told us, "our place in Canada is already rented out for the winter. We have to go south (to their RV park in California)…we paid for it in advance to secure it for this year and we'd lose 75% of the (prepaid) money if we cancel… we have a close relative who is lives in the area and she's quite ill. So we absolutely need to go," Other snowbirds have shared similar stories. Meanwhile a growing number of snowbirds have decided to either leave their RV at home and instead fly to a trending snowbird destination (non-USA) like Mexico or hit the Trans Canada Highway in their RV and discover more of Canada during the off-season. The first quarter of 2025 saw a significant decline in cross border traffic with monthly drops as high as 900,000 fewer Canadian vehicles heading into the USA. RVers are fanning out across Canada in order to find suitable, fully serviced RV campsites to enjoy during the cooler off-season months of the year.  Warmer winter climates on Vancouver Island, parts of southern Ontario and southern Quebec offer a bit milder climates with varying options for serviced, year round RV parks.