Plattsburgh golf courses struggle as Montreal businesses boom

Plattsburgh, NY is used to seeing Quebec and Ontario licence plates, but this year is different with tee times and lodging reservations down.

It is the first of three long weekends in Quebec in the span of two months.

Normally, these are prime weekends for golf courses, resorts, campgrounds and other short-haul tourist spots on the southern side of the border.

Meanwhile, north of the border, the negative exchange rate and general political vibe is causing golfers and other customers to stay close to home.

This year, however, vacancy rates remain high, and business owners are calling on Canadians to remember friendship and avoid politics.

Down almost a third

“It’s been slow,” said Bluff Point Golf Resort owner Paul Dame.

Dame said he is seeing how the effects of the ongoing tariff war between the U.S. and Canada, heightened border security, and the politics of U.S. President Donald Trump have Quebecers avoiding trips south.

The Plattsburgh course is accustomed to about 55-60 per cent of its clientele coming from Canada, but this year, that number has dropped significantly.

“We usually have half a parking lot of Canadians coming down. [In] the parking lot, the plates are showing Quebec and Ontario,” said Dame. “This year, if we see one or two plates, we’re excited to see those one or two, which is pretty sad. You know, we love our Canadian neighbours and friends.”

At Golf Dorval, however, the links are busy.

“I mean, there’s so much around here to like,” said golfer Norman Zolyniak. “Good courses, good people. So I’ve been enjoying it.”

Zolyniak and his friends will spend the long weekend on the links closer to home.

“Canadians and Quebecers want to spend money in Canada before spending in the States,” said Golf Dorval vice president Edgar Rouleau. “Also the rates; the U.S. dollar to the Canadian dollar is a big difference. You know, if you’re talking about 40 per cent more here.”

According to the North County Chamber of Commerce, vehicle traffic was down 31 per cent in March, and parking lots that were once full of Canadians are sparsely populated with customers from either province.

“Thirty-one per cent is a lot, particularly when it’s on a number that we roughly estimate is more than $300 million a year in spending by Canadians just in the immediate Plattsburgh area,” said Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas.

On long weekends, like Victoria Day in May, Bluff Point and other golf resorts in border towns across the 49th parallel say they are typically booked solid.

“Usually, once we get into June, our lodging reservations are pretty well full,” said Dame. “Midweek, weekend, everything this year, our midweeks are pretty open. We have tons of space.”

Dame said his lodging reservations are down 22 per cent from last year, with the majority of those reservations from Canada.

“I want to stress that we regard our Canadian friends, our Quebec friends, in particular, here in our region, not just as neighbours, and certainly not just as customers,” said Douglas. “But as friends and family, and friends and family feel one another’s hurt, and we feel the hurt of our neighbours, that the distress of how they’ve been referenced and referred to, and we stand with them.”

Border anxiety

Both Dame and Douglas said that Canadians have voiced concern about crossing the border, but insist that the reality on the ground is much safer.

“I understand that perception is reality, at least in terms of Champlain, the main border crossing between Montreal and our area, nothing, I repeat, nothing has changed,” said Douglas. “Everything is exactly the same. There are no new security requirements, there are no new attitudes, there are no new special checks.”

“I’ve had lots of people coming down. They’re saying it’s just like normal. Nothing’s changed,” he said.

Douglas insisted that extra checks, confiscated items and extra questions are normal on both sides of the border.

However, he added that agents being transferred to the southern border and new tariff-related rules have slowed the process down in some instances.

He said the chamber is working with its Member of Congress (Republican Elise M. Sefanik) to rectify the problem.

“We understand there are great demands at the southern border,” said Douglas. “We know why they’re doing that. We keep making the case that it’s not right to rob Peter to pay Paul, that you have to meet your different responsibilities at the northern border, which is facilitation and flow and trade.”

Lack of control

Dame said he understands why Canadians are reluctant to visit, but is also frustrated at not having any control over the political situation.

“Obviously, it is a pride and joy situation, and I feel for Canadians, and I hope that this gets resolved as quickly as possible,” he said. “Frankly, I wish it hadn’t happened in the beginning because it’s definitely a detriment to our community and other border communities.”

Douglas said businesses south of the border understand the reasons why their numbers are down — and may stay low for the rest of the summer season.

“Montreal’s U.S. suburb will always be here,” he said. “We care about our neighbours. We miss them when they don’t come. We welcome them when they do come, which many still are, and we hopefully all look forward to being able at some point in the future of getting this unfortunate period behind us... It’s certainly not how we feel.”

With reporting from CTV News Montreal journalist Christine Long.