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Running head: Snowbirds: The Issues That Come with Flying
Snowbirds:
The Issues That Come with Flying
Jenny Lloyd
English 1120
Professor Parks
1 April 2011
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Snowbirds: The Issues That Come with Flying
An elderly gentleman puts another piece of luggage into the black minivan as his wife
keeps bringing out more and more bags from the house. He sighs as he picks up another large
suitcase already covered in red, yellow, and brown autumn leaves from the trees, wondering to
himself if there is anything left in the house with the amount of luggage that he has sitting beside
him and in the van. Finally, she brings out the last of the bags and places them on the ground.
She turns back to the house one more time to mentally picture all that her checklist entailed as
the cold autumn breeze blows through her white curled hair. Heating to low? Check. Shut all the
windows? Check. Turn off all the lights but the white lamp at the bay window? Check. Shut and
lock the front and back doors? Check. As the man leans all his weight on the van hatch holding
his breath hoping to hear that wonderful sound, “click,” he smiles and walks to the passenger
side of the van. He opens the door and helps his wife of 40 years into the van and smiles, then
walks around the van to take hold of the wheel. They buckle up and the sound of the van comes
to life. As they pull out of the driveway they follow a flock of snowbirds above them heading in
the same direction, south.
Snowbirds do not actually exist as a species. “But the seasonal mass movement of
population from north to south is real enough, and is a phenomenon of profound social,
economic, and political importance,” said Ken S. Coates, Robert Healy, and William R.
Morrison, all professors that wrote, Tracking the Snowbirds… (2002, p.433). The impact that
people have on the economy just from migrating north to south is very strong. The changes that
have taken place over the years are interesting and have insight not only in the travel industry but
also other industries they come along with on their way down south.
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Snowbirds are not your typical couple. According to Greg Spencer of Guardian in “We
Must Plan for Elderly Migration”, retired people usually will go to rural and coastal areas for a
relaxed and slower pace and to experience some natural beauty (Guardian, 2000). These people
get the identity of being called “Snowbirds”. (Coats, 2002, p.433) Snowbirds are very prevalent
in Canada and the United States. There are different types of categories of elderly people that
migrate throughout the year. A snowbird, as stated, is an elderly person who migrates, looking
for warm weather during the autumn and winter season. People who stay in one area for less than
three weeks are considered “snowflakes” (Coats, 2002, p.435). These people still migrate but
they do not have the longevity to be considered snowbirds. According to Stanley K. Smith and
Mark House of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Florida,
snowbirds are also “permanent residents of Florida…[who] had spent more than 30 consecutive
days at a location other than their usual place of residence” (Smith, 2006, p.S233).
Throwing a Dark on My Map
There are some issues that most snowbirds find has an effect on their travels south. Some
of these things include: “Income, education, employment, and health status” (Smith, 2006,
p.S232). These different aspects of a snowbird’s life can have a factor in where and how long
they stay at one location. There are also some common factors that most snowbirds share such
as, “three fourths of all snowbirds were married, compared with 59% of sunbirds…” (Smith,
2006, p.S235). This may be because most snowbirds don’t like to travel alone. Advertising
companies can use this information and cater their messages to a couple instead of a single
person to try to get snowbirds to visit their location. Another common factor and the most
important part of being a snowbird is the destinations. There are some studies that show the
majority of them go to states such as Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas (Coats, 2002,
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p.436). “But it is very likely”, according to Coats, (2000), “that the bulk of them go to the four
key snowbird destinations states, and the largest number of them go to Florida. Based on this
1999 data, the total number of Canadian snowbirds (using the four key states, a 21+ day stay and
a January-June return criterion) is in the neighborhood of 300-375,000 annually” (p.436). That is
a large number of snowbirds from just Canada that come and fly south for the winter.
With a large number of snowbirds in one area they have the potential to make a
significant change in many industries. Some researchers think that, “although the collective
impact may be great, some communities have never contemplated the economic and social
impact of the migration” (Coats, 2002, p.444). Most people have not realized the effects that the
elderly can make on their home country and possible other places of residency. Some of the
impacts of the snowbirds from an economic standpoint include spending, healthcare and
insurance costs, and the place of residency. These factors can have a great effect on communities
and the snowbirds themselves.
Paperwork is signed
Snowbirds have an impact on many different areas in our society, one of them being the
healthcare industry. Their needs can sometimes cause higher healthcare costs (Spencer, 2000).
John Forster, MB, BS., of Port Perry, Ontario reports on how elderly snowbirds interact with the
health care system. They come in for “pre-Florida checkups” which typically happen in “midautumn”. The patients use this time to go through a long list of things that need to be checked so
the patient can have a peace of mind about them leaving for an extended stay. These elderly also
have an “annual health” examination along with possibly another appointment to get flu shots
and prescriptions that will be able to be filled for 6-months. He further explains that he believes
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his role is to help the elderly enjoy the “cheapest possible winter in Florida” (Forster, 1998,
pp.1356-1357).
Some research also shows that elderly temporary migrants are healthier than the elderly
population as a whole (Smith, 2006, p.S235). This might be because they are exposed to so many
different contaminants during their migrations back and forth. Because of this migration it is
causing some states to “lose their wealthier and healthier elderly” (Rogers, 1988, p.457). No
matter the fact that they are as a whole healthier, there are some previsions set up to help elderly
migrants with insurance. In the case of some insurance companies there is a “residency
requirement” for them to receive the insurance. They can fulfill this requirement by being in their
home during the warmer months of the year (Coats, 2002, p.445). For some Canadians there is a
non-profit Canada Snowbird Association that can help people by giving them a “discount on
medical and travel insurance, commercial discounts, advice, special seminars, and political
lobbying” (Coats, 2002, p.438).
Souvenirs on the Way
What is unknown to many individuals is how much of an impact these snowbirds can
have on industries. Coats identifies Texas as “having spent $400,000 in 1999 promoting the
state in Canada, drew 20% more snowbirds” (Coats, 2002, p.436). It seems that snowbirds
respond well to heavy advertising. Many snowbirds seem to go for places with incentives.
“America’s Heartland Discovery Dollars” Coat explains, “tempt the more than 312,000
Canadian travelers per year who move through Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and
Oklahoma to capitalize on the internet-delivery discounts” (2002, p.439). Now that it is known
that the elderly respond well to advertising many different organizations, including the
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government, are using that to their advantage to get the word out about things, such as an
upcoming election and to help mobilize others to vote as well (Coats, 2002, p.440).
Another economic benefit of having snowbirds come through different states is the
revenue that they provide. Rogers exposes some of these by saying, “…the elderly inmigrants
will increase demands for retail goods, and they probably will not have high demands for jobs
and public health and social services in the future” (Rogers, 1988, p.457). Though on the bad
side, when the snowbirds fly south, they take the money out of the northern circulation and spend
it in the south. This is becoming more common and some northerners even save up money to
retire in the south. This is causing the northern regions and countries some significant economic
problems (Coats, 2002, p.445). Some northern people have changed their plans and now offer
businesses that are “specifically targeted toward the snowbirds” (Coats, 2002, p.446).
Finally to the Destination
The snowbirds’ ultimate goal is to go somewhere warm and relaxing. There are many
places that provide this, such as south Florida, the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, Phoenix and
Tucson, the California desert, Baja California, and west-central Mexico (Coasts, 2002, p.434).
For some people these locations are very far away. Depending on where snowbirds want to live
and what they want to live in can make a large impact on the transportation method they use to
get out there. Some snowbirds have permanent houses, “although some rent apartments or
purchase time-share units in resort condos, many concentrate in trailer parks or even in vast,
quasi-legal temporary recreational vehicle settlements, like the one that springs up yearly near
the Salton Sea in the Southern California desert” (Coats, 2002, p.434). A little community in
Quartzsite, Arizona, of approximately 2,100 people explodes with snowbirds. Some officials
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think they have upwards of one million in January. A large majority of these people live in the
mobile home parking lots that are side by side and block by block (Coats, 2002, p.434).
Home Sweet Home for Now
There is also the option for some snowbirds to become a sunbird, which is one who
travels in the summer and stays in warmer weather as a permanent home. Smith observed that
the majority of people who spend their winters in Florida would stay there permanently, making
this a common precursor for snowbirds (Smith, 2006, p. S236). For many sunbirds their
movement had a different effect. Smith found that sunbirds, by spending their summers
somewhere else, did not want to move there permanently (Smith, 2006, p.S236). “However, two
thirds of the snowbirds in the sample reported that it was unlikely they would ever move to the
state permanently; for them, temporary migration was a substitute for permanent migration”
(Smith, 2006, p. S239). He also goes on to say that for some snowbirds, the ability to move back
and forth allows them to see the “benefits of a previous location” (Smith, 2006, p. S239).
Another trend that has recently emerged is migration to Mexico. It is also thought that this trend
“will likely become more attractive as escalating costs in the southern U.S. drive middle- and
lower-class Canadians and Americans further afield in search of a cheap, warm, winter respite”
(Coats, 2002, p.447-448). It will be interesting to see what more emerges in the coming years.
As the spring flowers emerge from the ground and the sweet smell of summer is around
the corner, the signs of those seasons are all around. In the sky, from the south, there are a flock
of snowbirds on the horizon. Under them there is a small van coming up the road. An elderly
couple pulls into a driveway of a house that has sat vacant for months. As the elderly man gets
out of the driver’s seat and walks around the car to open the door for his wife, it is hard not to
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notice the smiles on both of their tanned faces. This couple loves the adventure of going south
for the winter, but enjoys the precious summers with their families too much to move down
south permanently. They walk hand in hand up to the vacant house and sit side by side on the
wooden white porch swing. As they scan the green lawn and blooming trees they hear the sound
of the snowbirds continuing on, awaiting for autumn when they will all go back south once
again.
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References
Snowbirds: an unwelcome sign that winter's coming. (1998). CMAJ: Canadian Medical
Association Journal, 159(11), 1356-1358. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Smith, S. K., & House, M. (2006). Snowbirds, Sunbirds, and Stayers: Seasonal Migration of
Elderly Adults in Florida. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences &
Social Sciences, 61B(5), P232-P239. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Coates, K. S., Healy, R., & Morrison, W. R. (2002). Tracking the Snowbirds: Seasonal
Migration from Canada to the U.S.A. and Mexico. American Review of Canadian
Studies, 32(3), 433. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Spencer, Greg. (2000, December 14). We must plan for elderly migration. Retrieved from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2000/dec/14/housingpolicy.communities
Rogers, A., & Woodward, J. (1988). The sources of regional elderly population growth:
migration and aging-in-place. Professional Geographer, 40(4), 450-459. Retrieved from
EBSCOhost.