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^Exactly. And this includes cruises, many of which depart from the Florida mainland. Florida benefits from cruise passengers flying into the state, staying at Florida hotels and patronizing businesses on the mainland.If you want to hurt the Florida economy, the thing that will have the most impact is to do what people have already begun to do-- Don't come down here, don't vacation here, and don't become seasonal residents.
I've also seen something that a saw in California- the land is more profitable to develop for residential and commercial use than agricultural use, especially down in south Florida. Most of the remaining large groves seem to be in the middle of the state around Orlando. I've also heard that the crackdown on illegal immigrants has hurt the industry, since they rely upon low-wage immigrant labor to harvest citrus.Florida can probably hardly be considered a major orange producer anymore because of citrus greening disease, which has wiped out over 90% of the groves. There was a series of hard freezes in the 1980s, but probably largely due to climate change, there hasn't been a major freeze threat since 1989. And yes, hurricanes will wipe out a large portion of next year's crop, but the industry always seems to rebound in a couple of years.
It also used to be that a Canadian family could fly to Florida, find a reasonable hotel room rate and stay for a few days. I used to see Quebec and Canadian flags next to the beach towels but, as the hotels have been replaced by high-rises and condos and it's more expensive, I'm not seeing as many Canadians vacationing in South Florida. They may be visiting cheaper areas in the northern area of the state but it's harder to get cheap, direct flights into places like Pensacola or Daytona Beach.Well, the number of Canadians going down to Florida has been dropping since 2016.
I remember when the Germans stopped coming to Miami when drug crime was so bad in the 80s and 90s. I suspect this tariff war with Canada might be when Canadians start permanently picking alternatives like Cuba or Mexico for their vacations.
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