For tourists and gift givers, now may be the time to buy those pink flamingos.

If they haven’t already, President Donald Trump’s tariff wars are seeping into the psyches of retailers in South Florida’s tourism industry. Raise prices or not? Order more stuff in advance in the hopes of averting higher tariffs later?

At Bob Roth’s New River Groves on Griffin Road in Davie, a 61-year-old purveyor of citrus, key lime pies and Florida-centric souvenirs, key pricing decisions already have been made, said Lisa Roth, vice president and the founder’s daughter.

“The price of fresh produce is going up,” she said. “For mangos we have to go overseas because our own backyard mangos aren’t ready yet.”

A glance around the business’s expansive layout shows a variety of imported products that are rising in price: from key chains and shot glasses to plastic cups and shopping bags. Even the ingredients for key lime pies — condensed milk, toppings and lime juice — are more expensive, Roth said.

“We try not to go up,” she added. “Our customers are so loyal to us. I still want our regular customers who come in.”

Her father, Bob, 81, said the tariffs rank among the most threatening challenges the business has faced over the years: winter freezes, canker, hurricanes and the widening of Griffin Road.

“It’s going to affect us down the line,” he said. “The more it costs us, the more it costs our customers. It’s going to be a very difficult situation.”

Recently, while discussing the inevitability of retail auto prices rising soon, Rita Case, president and CEO of Rick Case Automotive Group, flipped the conversation to the fates of Fort Lauderdale’s beachfront souvenir and T-shirt retailers.

“Think about Fort Lauderdale beach,” she said, noting that  “every other store”  is selling souvenirs or beachwear manufactured from another country, and subject to tariff hikes.

“All of these people are not sleeping tonight because they don’t know if they should order another souvenir plate or T-shirt,” she said.

But for many operators of hotel retail stores, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses, it appears too early to tell if taking radical action to stock up on products or spike prices are prudent moves to make.

Fear and uncertainty

“I think what we’re hearing right now is hype and fear,” said Peter Ricci, director of the hospitality and tourism management program at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business. “To date, I have had no hotel operator or restaurant operator converse with me about buying products now to save costs later. Could there be some out there? Of course, there could.”

“Right now, the tariffs change almost daily as do the percentages,” he added. “Until things settle down, the smart owners and operators are staying cognizant on which product costs are changing right now and how they can change course with those products. To make a broad, sweeping decision at the macro level of all purchasing or all decisions related to costs is not prudent until one knows more about what is here to stay and what products are a ‘must purchase’ from those countries/regions/suppliers.”

Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, Broward County’s tourism marketing and promotion agency, said she hasn’t talked to any businesses about the potential for retail prices levitated by tariffs.

“Some will eat it, some won’t,” she said of businesses that may or may not pass the tariff costs to their customers. “It’s a private sector-driven business decision.”

But the consequences of raising prices will add to the costs of visiting a Greater Fort Lauderdale region whose bargain profile is in the rearview mirror as hotels in the area have graduated from a town of mom-and-pop venues to upscale hotels bearing prominent names such as Hilton, Conrad, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons.

“We are not an inexpensive destination to begin with,” Ritter said. “We used to be, but we’re not anymore.”

“There is so much uncertainty,” she added. “One day there are tariffs and the next day there are not.”

It’s also become hard to forecast visitor levels for the months ahead, she added, sounding like a person who stands to lose hard-earned gains.

“February of this year wasn’t as good as February of last year,” she said. “We’re still having a good year. We’ve had great weather. The weather was perfect.”

But then along came President Trump’s “Liberation Day”  — The Economist magazine called it “Ruination Day” — and a round of tariffs against American allies including Canada, which bitterly launched a travel boycott against the U.S.

“E-mail I’m getting from Canadians suggests the anger is real and not going away soon,” Ritter said. “Travel boycotts have never worked in the past. This one is being led by the prime minister. Their leaders are stepping forward to say, ‘don’t travel to the U.S.’”

“Those are big concerns for us,” she said. “We are going to have to reevaluate our marketing strategies for the coming year and figure out where [marketing] money is best spent, and it may not be international for the next year.”

“Change and disruption” — for how long?

On April 1, the National Restaurant Association’s president and CEO Michelle Korsmo said Trump’s imposition of reciprocal tariffs on imported food and beverages would force operators to navigate “change and disruption” just to stay open.

“The biggest concerns for restaurant operators — from community restaurants to national brands — are that tariffs will hike food and packaging costs and add uncertainty to managing availability, while pushing prices up for consumers,” she said.

“Restaurant operators know consumers are very sensitive to costs and have kept menu price increases to 30%, while their food costs have gone up 40% in the last five years,” she said.

Moreover, they “rely on a stable supply of fresh ingredients year-round to provide the menu items their customers want and expect. Many restaurant operators source as many domestic ingredients as they can, but it’s simply not possible for U.S. farmers and ranchers to produce the volumes needed to support consumer demand.”

Yearning for stability

In the end, certainty is what businesses crave as the tariff wars grind on.

Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting, said it’s critical that it would be helpful to business operators and investors if they know where Trump’s outburst of tariff levels and policies are going to land.

“I don’t think the international trade genie goes back in the bottle,” he said. “The rules of the game are going to be different when we get to the end of this process, hopefully sooner than later, because the uncertainty is upsetting financial markets.”

“You’d better get yourself a pink flamingo before the prices go up,” he quipped.