Why is it CHEAPER TO VACATION IN FLORIDA THAN IN CANADA???????

[binwinbinwin]

I'm a proud Canadian and would love to vacation here and see more of my own country. But I can't understand why it's so expensive to vacation in Canada. I can go to Florida and rent a 2-bedroom condo with full kitchen and on-site recreational amenities for only $75 per nite in low season. It's difficult for me to find a similar 2-bedroom unit in Niagara Falls, Ottawa, Montreal, Banff, Halifax or Vancouver for the same price. If I want to rent a half-decent cottage in Ontario, it will cost me at least a $100 per nite during low season or $250 during summer high season. Our GST, PST and exorbitant airport and gas taxes certainly don't help on vacation expenses. The strong Canadian dollar makes it even more attractive for us to vacation south of the border. It would be great if Canada someday had more attractive vacation deals like Florida (Windsor Hills condo, vacation home rentals, $3.99 breakfast buffets, $69 Southwest Airline tickets, 7-days-for-the-price-of-1-theme-park-discounts), to encourage even more Canucks and international tourists to vacation right here in Canada.

 

[damo]

So many of the vacation spots in Canada are seasonal and the owners must make the most of the short season.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Certainly part of the reason is volume.

Florida has had almost 40 years of a huge volume of traffic wanting to take their share of the year around warm temps and sunshine. There are far more flights to and from Orlando's MCO .. than just about any city in Canada save maybe Toronto .. the flight volume at MCO is incredible.

I certainly know what you mean. I can do a week at Disney (including park tickets) for about what I can pay for a week in Halifax with eating out and going to clubs.



Knox

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

When it comes to prices, think basic Economics 101. Supply and Demand. Then add taxing differentials; Florida is a low tax state and Canada isn't.

BobK/Orlando

 

[Disney Ontario]

Hi. A friend just price Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, it was going to cost almost $900.00 for a weekend in April.

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

But you 'can' do vacations in Canada that are not overly expensive if you are creative!

We've rented a cottage in Nova Scotia for this summer - cottage cost $600 for the week. Then there will be 2 nights in a hotel for driving there and home $400. I've put in $500 for gas and food along the way and another $500 to $700 for entertainment while we're there.

Total vacation cost for 4 people I'm budgeting $2500 so we have some to play with as I'm sure the whale watching tours will be expensive plus dh wants to play golf one day!

Cottage is on the water so kids can take their fishing rods plus they have a canoe (or we might take our own) and close to lunenburg with lots to do/see around it. We found alot of cottages that were much cheaper too!

We wanted something 'different' then Disney this year so it's a cruise from San Juan in 21 days and Nova Scotia in the summer! Might not be 'cheaper' then Disney but would be around the same cost and it's something different.

 

[starrzone]

So many of the vacation spots in Canada are seasonal and the owners must make the most of the short season.

Exactly; I know most of the places around here are lucky if they get a 3 month full season (July-Sept) with a shoulder season in May-June, if it's a good year. And if it's a cold year with really bad weather, no one is going to want to vacation at the lake or the beach. In Florida, you're pretty well guranteed decent weather 9-10 months out of the year (with the exception of hurricane season).

 

[Reese]

That's what I have found also. People wonder how and why we've gone to Disney so often...well it's cheaper. With all our kids it's the most economical vacation that I can come up with. I priced the great wolf lodge and for us it was going to be 1600 for a weekend not including food. Double that and I have a week in Disney for all of us with tix.

 

[SandraC]

I priced WestJet to Calgary in late July [after the Stampede] and it was $3300!

I can do an entire week in Florida ALL EXPENSIVE for that!

S

 

[chasbos]

In Canada we have huge many disadvantages.

#1 - we are a seasonal country. If you want to travel and sightsee and take in the sights of a region you are pretty much stuck with May-Oct (and that is even pushing it in some places) No one would want to visit the Maritimes in the winter or travel through the Rockie Mountains either.

#2 - we have NO choice in airlines. You either fly Air Canada or WestJet - not much selection there. Try booking a flight within the US - you have 5, 6, 7 different options.

#3 - Taxes - we are taxed to death. Flights are ridiculous and hotels even more so. Then you take eating out, you can add on 13% with the new reduced GST. But that is a huge addition to your costs.

We have made a point the last 2 summers to travel Canada, but now we are done and will likely not do it again. It cost us $8,000 to travel out west for 8 days (we flew in Seattle so that was a savings) and then $10,000 last summer to travel East for 8 days. This is for 6 people.

This summer we are doing the Southwest USA and it is going to be 1/2 the price. Flights for us to go to Halifax from Toronto were $3600 this summer we are flying from Detroit into San Antonio and then Las Vegas to Detroit for $1700 total. Car rental in Halifax was $1000 for a Yukon, getting an Excursions one way rental from San Antonio to Las Vegas for $600.

It really makes it hard to stay in your own country to travel - and that is very sad for our tourism.

 

[I Run Long]

One reason we don't vacation in Canada is it is simply too expensive to fly anywhere. For instance if we fly from Victoria, BC to Orlando from 9 Sept to 17 Sept it's $2454 (Expedia) for 4 people. For the same dates and people to say Fredericton, NB to visit my husband's family it's $5275!!!! So if there's a choice, I know where I'm going: Disney World!

 

[CanadianGuy]

I hear ya.. When I can fly from Portland ME to Orlando for 217$ Canadian...

I have a hard time justifying $450+ to fly to Toronto and visit the CN Tower.

Knox

 

[ChisJo]

I live in Edmonton, and was thinking about going to Vancouver and travel around that area for a week or so. When I checked into flights, it was $200 more return to go to BC than it was to go to FLORIDA! I could always drive it, and save money that way, but with the price of the hotels, I still would have saved money to go to Florida! Sad...I've hardly seen my own country, but I've travelled around the USA.

 

[lisalonglash]

In Canada we have huge many disadvantages.

#1 - we are a seasonal country. If you want to travel and sightsee and take in the sights of a region you are pretty much stuck with May-Oct (and that is even pushing it in some places) No one would want to visit the Maritimes in the winter or travel through the Rockie Mountains either.

#2 - we have NO choice in airlines. You either fly Air Canada or WestJet - not much selection there. Try booking a flight within the US - you have 5, 6, 7 different options.

#3 - Taxes - we are taxed to death. Flights are ridiculous and hotels even more so. Then you take eating out, you can add on 13% with the new reduced GST. But that is a huge addition to your costs.

We have made a point the last 2 summers to travel Canada, but now we are done and will likely not do it again. It cost us $8,000 to travel out west for 8 days (we flew in Seattle so that was a savings) and then $10,000 last summer to travel East for 8 days. This is for 6 people.

This summer we are doing the Southwest USA and it is going to be 1/2 the price. Flights for us to go to Halifax from Toronto were $3600 this summer we are flying from Detroit into San Antonio and then Las Vegas to Detroit for $1700 total. Car rental in Halifax was $1000 for a Yukon, getting an Excursions one way rental from San Antonio to Las Vegas for $600.

It really makes it hard to stay in your own country to travel - and that is very sad for our tourism.

Great post, but I have to point out that:

(a) Not all of Canada would be considered a seasonal travel destination. The Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, etc. is a year-round destination IMO

(b) There are regional airlines that compete with WestJet and Air Canada - but it's sometimes a fair amount of work to find them online LOL You can save a lot of moolah using the smaller regional airlines though

(c) Canadian taxes ARE ridiculous! No question there!

I also agree that travel within Canada is ludicrously priced, no matter how you look at it. It's consistently drastically cheaper for us to fly to London, Paris, Vienna, etc. than to fly to Toronto or Montreal - that's just bizarre! I'm sure that's one reason our preferred vacation destinations are all in Europe

Our vacation this year to Orlando is turning out to be fairly reasonably priced too - again, way cheaper than a vacation to elsewhere in Canada. We got direct return flights for $335 all in for each of us Seattle/Orlando - it's often hard to get return flights from Vancouver to Calgary for that price

It also helps that our dollar is continuing to stay at par with the US$ - that saves Canadians a bucketload of cash on a US vacation!

 

[slapwhitey]

It is cheaper for us to fly to orlando from Buffalo and spend the weekend at WDW than it would be to go to Niagara Falls for 3 nights. I'm sure the same could be said for going to Toronto as well. We can fly for under $200 round trip and have the luxury of getting REALLY reasonable hotel rates. AP's don't hurt either.

 

[dede123]

We live Just outside Edmonton as well. We are flying to Orlando March 23rd for 10 nights. Our flights (4 people) and accommodation in Orlando (4 nights offsite in 2 bdrm condo, 3 nights Disney Wilderness Lodge and 3 nights Polynesian Resort) comes to $4300.00. We still have to eat, but we will do that for around $100.00-150.00 per day plus park hopper passes. I think we'll be right around the $7000.00 mark. Not bad for 10 days.

We stayed at the Jasper Park Lodge for 3 nights (drove) at Thanksgiving and it cost our family of 4 over $2000.00. We used to love going to Jasper Park Lodge but their prices have gotten so crazy and the rooms aren't that great.

Now we camp if we holiday close to home. We have a trailer which was priced very reasonable and per night charges range from around $20.00-$35.00 per night.

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

Last year my business sent me to Vancouver for a weekend and I extended a week, making it a ten day vacation. My costs were low b/c it was just me and they paid for the airfare.

Now, to go back, I can fly into LA rt for $250, spend a couple days at DL, fly for under $80 (each way) to Seattle, see Seattle, shuttle up to Vancouver, and it will be cheaper than flying from TO to Vancouver.

It's okay if you're flexible with your dates, it's when you're stuck w/ flying on certain dates and/or have a group, that makes it challenging.

CAA has an article in this month's magazine, 100 things to do for $100.

Thanks for the OP, this is just why I joined the DIS.
I am learning so much.

 

[cdn ears]

...because our government makes it cheaper to go elsewhere due to taxation. I'm a DVC member because I can travel to over 500 locations (even the ones in Canada work out cheaper). Two of us just spent 13 days at the world for $1500 - including airfare out of Buffalo for 2 for $300 including only $33 in taxes.

That's why unfortunately I don't travel in Canada not that I wouldn't it's just not feasible or practical.