UWF Haas Survey Shows Big Pandemic Financial Hit; 90% Of Floridians Spending Less

May 6, 2020

An economic impacts study by the Haas Center at the University of West Florida shows just how hard the COVID-19 pandemic hit Floridians financially.

The UWF Haas Center conducted the survey to understand the types of travel and spending changes Florida residents have experienced since the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The survey was made accessible online in English and Spanish from March 16 through April 6 and responses from more than 3,000 Florida residents factored into the results.

“Originally, on March 10, we were planning on surveying local spring breakers on Pensacola Beach, thinking that many might be staying close to home as travel bans began across the U.S.,” said Nicole Gislason, interim assistant vice president at the UWF Haas Center. “But, when the UWF campus switched to remote instruction, remote research and administration, we knew we needed to upscale the survey by increasing the geographic scope.”

The results of the survey revealed three points:

  • 61% of Floridians have cancelled or postponed travel plans, and more than half of that group had more than one trip which was impacted.
  • 24% had already experienced some loss in wages due to the coronavirus, while another 18% expected income loss to be imminent at the time they completed the survey.
  • 90% of Floridians reported reduced spending across many different industry sectors, including restaurant, entertainment and retail shopping.

“These results provide important insight into the real-time economic impacts occurring across the state of Florida as everyone deals with the coronavirus pandemic,” said Amy Newburn, director of market research for the UWF Haas Center. “They provide stakeholders with an estimate of losses to taxable sales across parts of the economy, as well as insight into what types of workers are struggling with lost wages and hours.”

Comments

4 Responses to “UWF Haas Survey Shows Big Pandemic Financial Hit; 90% Of Floridians Spending Less”

  1. TR SPORT on May 7th, 2020 10:26 am

    President Trump said in an interview last week “we’re in a deep recession “. You can’t stay at home and hope everything will magicly get better.

  2. Whisperjet on May 6th, 2020 3:59 pm

    ..I was planning on taking my grandsons hiking for a week in the Grand Canyon..maybe next spring..

  3. Christopher T Saul on May 6th, 2020 9:56 am

    Duh!!!! We cannot go anywhere. Man I got to say we have a few genious folks in the pensacola area.

  4. Kel on May 6th, 2020 6:48 am

    “90% of Floridians reported reduced spending across many different industry sectors, including restaurant, entertainment and retail shopping.”

    First off, I wonder about the actual percentages of people in our area and people in say South Florida. Also, of course there was reduced spending. Bars and movie theaters being closed, as well as store hours being cut in half nearly everywhere (except Cordova mall which was just straight up closed) people didn’t even have the OPPORTUNITY to spend that money. The real eye opener should be:

    “24% had already experienced some loss in wages due to the coronavirus, while another 18% expected income loss to be imminent at the time they completed the survey.”

    With how quick everything is reopening you would think the entire American population were homeless lol.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News