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According to the Naples (Fl) Daily News
Summer tourist season has the posh downtown merchants falling of a cliff. Seems European visitors who usually visit the area and spend gobs of money eating at the high end restaurants and buying all the overpriced merchandise available just aren't showing up this year. On top of that the real estate market is suffering because so many Canadians are selling property here. Gee, anyone think to remind them the person they voted for is the cause of this? Demanding Canada join the US and awful and intrusive immigration and tariff policies just might be the cause. And the staunch Republicans who overwhelm our voting can't seem to realize why this happening. FAFO folks!
PS. Sorry couldn't link. Paywall, and I'll be damned if I give that vapid rag a dime
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dalton99a
(89,505 posts)Local businesses are expressing concern over the potential cuts, citing decreased tourism and revenue.
Meg Stepanian, president of the Fifth Avenue South Business Improvement District, in downtown Naples, said the street has seen a big drop off in business, forcing some restaurants and shops to cut their hours, or to temporarily, or even permanently, close their doors.
"I represent 254 businesses on Fifth Avenue South, and ... last year was very soft for those businesses," she said. "This year, their business fell off a cliff. And every day, especially now, I am fielding phone calls from these businesses, asking how everybody else is doing."
sop
(15,247 posts)
malaise
(286,892 posts)Slobby said it was the greatest economy ever
ananda
(32,614 posts)Right
malaise
(286,892 posts)😀
PatSeg
(50,638 posts)He's selling all kinds of profitable collectables and crypto coins.
drray23
(8,309 posts)Same thing was happening there. Camden, Rockland and surrounding areas relying heavily on tourism. It's a perfect place for boating and fishing, well known for artists as well due to its beauty. Locals were all telling me that the business was slow this year, I could also see there was no waiting in line at restaurants, easier to park the car everywhere.
Apparently, a significant fraction of the tourists used to come from Canada (it's just a few hours from the Canadian border) and they are not coming. Many of these Canadians had vacation homes and they are offloading them.
lindalou65
(343 posts)sadly are greatly hurting US tourism and the people who have businesses that rely on the tourist trade. My husband and I love the Maine coast. We've never been to the Camden/Rockland area. We are seriously thinking of buying a condo or house in that area. It really looks beautiful.
drray23
(8,309 posts)The prices are a bit high if you are right on the water, but ok if you move a few miles inland. Anyhow, we want to buy one as a vacation home and later on, retire there.
We live in southeastern Virginia and would rather be in Maine with a more temperate climate in the summer instead of 100F and 80 % humidity in the south.
Of course, the winter is harsher but as long as you have a nice cozy home with two sources of heat (propane in town, wood stove as a backup) it does not really matter.
lindalou65
(343 posts)We’re hoping to find something too in the next year! We live in New Mexico. We like it here, but it’s really hot during the summer and not enough rain. Take care!
Irish_Dem
(72,581 posts)Some of the Canadians I talked to stated they traveled often to the US, New England states.
I was surprised since Quebec is so beautiful. But they said very nice American areas
are so close, and they loved to travel to the US.
Trump had not yet been elected, and it is amazing how he changed so much is
in a very short period of time.
I had a wonderful trip and am thankful I did it before Trump ruined Canadian goodwill.
Bernardo de La Paz
(57,204 posts)
A HERETIC I AM
(24,815 posts)Or trying to, anyway.
There has been a glut of homes and condos for sale in SW Florida for well over a year now.
Go to www.zillow.com. search Lee County FL or Naples or just all of SW Fl and click the "For Sale" button.
It's a sea of red indicators showing homes for sale. Enter "Cape Coral" if you REALLY want to see what a buyers market looks like. Right now the show 6669 homes for sale on Cape Coral alone.
The same is the case in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
People are leaving because this asshole governor has refused to rein in the predatory insurance companies and the skyrocketing HOA fees.
It isn't just Canadians selling.
AverageOldGuy
(2,758 posts)Insurance rates are through the roof (no pun intended) and going higher with each storm season.
Cost of rebuilding is FAR ABOVE original cost and reasonable replacement cost -- and this is not just for places totally destroyed, it's also the case for any place with storm damage.
Workers disappearing. I wonder why?
Price of gas for vacation trips has reached a tipping point -- stay home or close to home.
Historic NY
(39,147 posts)In 2025, the average cost of homeowners insurance in Florida is projected to be around $15,460 annually.
People with manufactured home are left in the cold. My sister in law had a crazy quote more than the 1980s manufactured home is worth. She lives where the tornado touched down recently.
Farmer-Rick
(11,875 posts)Their citizens about ICE obstructing travel.
"Ireland, The Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland and Canada have updated their travel guidelines after some travelers from these nations encountered detention by immigration officials "
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5336792/european-countries-canada-travel-warnings-us
The Poor Boys, ......errr Proud Boys.....pretending to be ICE agents, indiscriminate detention of anyone who looks different, is stopping tourism. too.
If I have a choice to visit a place where I would be hassled, like say Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and the US, and a place where they welcome foreigners to visit, guess which one I'm picking? Paris looks beautiful in the summer.
And many parts of the US are suffering a housing and real estate crash. It's not as bad as 2007 or 2008....yet. All part of the pedo Trump's failing economy. Just handing our tax dollars to the filthy-rich will only ensure the wealth will be hoarded even tighter. I see no signs of investment in the US economy at all.
not fooled
(6,391 posts)I'm with Thom Hartmann on this one--Krasnov and his billionaire buddies want the economy to crash because then they can buy up assets on the cheap and also cow workers. Of course they are insulated from suffering because of their wealth, so wouldn't bother them.
dsvajda
(21 posts)Is also showing the same type of selling, or should I say attempted selling, explosion. We own both sides of a duplex in Sun City Center. Bought one for my mother in law in 2010 and then bought the other side of the duplex the next year when the owners basically gave it away. We snowbird each winter and use one of the houses as a guest house for family/friends that want to come down. Insurance has over doubled in the past four years even though we're over 6 mile from Tampa bay and 20+ miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The population explosion has also made it a whole lot more "unfun" to visit the area. Since all of the state south of Ocala is wet land mixed with lakes and swamp, it's nearly impossible to build east-west roads. Traffic has become unbearably slow.
We bought as the area was still showing the effects of the "Great Recession." Prices had plummeted and inventory was astonishingly high. Prices skyrocketed in 2021. Houses that sold for $90,000 in 2019 were selling like hot cakes for $200,000 and up and inventory was very low. Now Zillow is starting to look like it did 15 years ago and people who bought high can't sell. Our across the street neighbor paid $240,000 three years ago and has been trying to sell for nearly a year. Asking $205,000 and no nibbles.
TnDem
(1,087 posts)Not true at all...Case in point would be Florida SR52, SR54 and SR56 that go from central Florida to the gulf.
buzzycrumbhunger
(1,230 posts)Oddly enough, rents and home prices are going ever upward and it’s near impossible to find anything affordable.
Someone needs to do something about the hedge fund bastards buying up all the real estate because the wages here suck and they’re pricing everyone out. The fact that Canadians are leaving and won’t be coming back should make a difference but won’t unless things change drastically.
Not sure how Florida becoming concentration camp central is supposed to lure tourist dollars here, to boot. The Repukes have really done a number on this state. 
TnDem
(1,087 posts)Where that thing is located is miles and miles and miles of absolutely nothing but swamp and cypress. It's really nowhere near Naples or Miami proper. I was through there several years ago.
If you were visiting either southeast or southwest Florida, you would have to seek that out to find it.
buzzycrumbhunger
(1,230 posts)… and drove through Alligator Alley, which was a nightmare—especially on the way home at night. I kept thinking of that Jim Breuer bit about driving that road and picking up a hitchhiker (the Boogey Man), which made for a bit of a tense ride with intermittent giggles.
Seriously, though, that whole part of the state is awful. It’s going to be carnage when hurricane season hits because those people are pretty much stashed in kennels with no real protection. Of course, with unstoppable climate change, we’re looking at yet another “worst hurricane season ever.” Again.
Trueblue Texan
(3,497 posts)...Vote for someone who knows what they're doing!
BoRaGard
(6,441 posts)
BWdem4life
(2,573 posts)
melm00se
(5,113 posts)actions were being seen all over SWFL where the Great Northern Canadian Snowbirds nest at the end of the season.
About 1/2 of my development are private rentals to snowbirds and about 1/3 of them are Canadians and there are probably 10-15% owned by Canadians.
The common threads you hear are:
- "Does anyone know someone who needs a rental? My long term renters have bailed on me and I need to get someone in here".
- "Did you hear that _________ and __________. The Canadians? Have put their unit on the market? They say they aren't coming back".
- "Wow, this place is never this empty this late in the season. Where did everyone go?"
My neighbor is a realtor and she says a lot of the units up for sale are foreign owned and none of her prospects are foreigners which is not normal for her (she speaks like 6 languages - she's originally from Estonia).
The Canadians really hate Trump. If they saw him on fire some wouldn't piss on him to put it out and some would make the trip to the gas station to help it along.
Dan
(4,834 posts)If a lot of Americans saw Trump on fire - they wouldn’t piss on him to put it out either. This is really sad cause normally most of us would piss on someone to put out a fire, but with Trump it is a waste of piss.
markodochartaigh
(3,392 posts)fifteen miles inland in Collier County the one house for sale sold in April after a year on the market to a Russian who is in management in tech. The two vacant lots sold in a few months to a Malayali and a Kannadiga, both in tech management. They are building a house on one lot right now.
The real estate prices, even inland, are far above what most local workers can pay, even for two earner households with no children. And insurance companies started fleeing the state several years ago because there was so much fraud, particularly roofing fraud. The hurricanes are only part of the story. Through Irma, Ian, and Milton the houses in my area had no damage and insurance companies are still cancelling policies after doubling premiums every year for three years.
Much of the local housing market is held by extremely wealthy people, many of whom made money in real estate, who are well-positioned to hold through the usual cycles. What will happen with the black swan events like loss of faith in the dollar, unavailability of cheap immigrant construction labor, and skyrocketing insurance rates is another matter, however these unavoidable events seem to be just now popping up on the radar for the conservative speculators.
It sure seems like Publix and Walmart are noticeably less crowded and there is less traffic on the streets.
JoseBalow
(7,966 posts)And the fools will just keep rebuilding. 
mdbl
(6,966 posts)
LilElf70
(987 posts)Trump will make even a stronger effort to destroy our democracy. And along the way, he will demolish our economy. It just never stops, or even slows down. Just when I thought we had enough of his shit, he just keeps throwing more of it at the wall, to see what sticks.
Wait until this Epstein shit finally blows up. It's coming...... Real soon.....
When it's all over, historians will have a field day with this yahoo.
Skittles
(166,154 posts)viva la
(4,197 posts)They've heard stories about tourists being forced to turn over their phones for the Immigration Control officer to look through the photos and texts .... presumably for anti-Trump info?
twodogsbarking
(14,502 posts)dedl67
(51 posts)But there are decent people there and the Naples Botanical Garden is great, so I have mixed feelings about the economic problems there.