02-08-2015, 05:59 AM
How or what else could or should this county do to promote more tourism dollars to be spent here?
Though many would disagree with me, I think tourism is a bad fit for Hawaii. In fact I think tourism hurts us. Therefore I wouldn't encourage more, but rather as far as tourism goes make what we already have as good as can be... i.e. the minimal vacation rental business is great, and certainly places like Volcano thrive on it.
Beyond that please consider that in order for us to sustain tourism we must raise our children to be hospitality workers, and as with the sugar industry before, this requires our schools to provide a minimum of an education otherwise we would not have the appropriate workers available for the 'jobs' everyone speaks so highly of when they're busy selling us on the next hotel or whatever.
And yes pander75 seems to make a minimum living wage but do we really want your kids to grow up to be house cleaners? To aspire to be maids?
I know it won't happen, because our politicians aren't that creative, but I have always thought what we need in East Hawaii is a high tech campus, such as a branch of Google, Apple, or (God forbid) MS. High tech, think programmers and designers, not manufacturing, pays very well, and requires intelligent people. And, once established I would imagine a co-partnership with the local schools and UH Hilo, and a strong computer science program. In other words a chance for a real higher education for local kids.
As an example, I believe the astronomy industry (even though I have serious concerns about having given up the summit of Mauna Kea for it) is by far one of the best industries we have on island. I believe it brings in more revenue (approx $150 million annually) as well as causes intelligent people to move here who want a better life for their children than our schools are able to provide. In most cases their kids go to private schools. In some instances children that work for places like Keck are able to get into HPA, and Keck pays 75% of the tuition. If they didn't they would have a lot harder time staffing their facility. If we had more industries that required smart people our government would be encouraged to educate our children better. This in turn would bring greater cultural experiences etc., and in the long run improve our community in many ways. All with a very small impact on the environment compared to tourism.
I also think the Earth sciences are a great part of our work force, as well as having a good impact on our community, though I would have hoped that the education system would have taken greater advantage of this then they have. But all told I think we need to consider the overall effect on our community of any industry we encourage, and as I said, I believe tourism is bad for us in the log run, and wouldn't encourage it's expansion in any way.
Though many would disagree with me, I think tourism is a bad fit for Hawaii. In fact I think tourism hurts us. Therefore I wouldn't encourage more, but rather as far as tourism goes make what we already have as good as can be... i.e. the minimal vacation rental business is great, and certainly places like Volcano thrive on it.
Beyond that please consider that in order for us to sustain tourism we must raise our children to be hospitality workers, and as with the sugar industry before, this requires our schools to provide a minimum of an education otherwise we would not have the appropriate workers available for the 'jobs' everyone speaks so highly of when they're busy selling us on the next hotel or whatever.
And yes pander75 seems to make a minimum living wage but do we really want your kids to grow up to be house cleaners? To aspire to be maids?
I know it won't happen, because our politicians aren't that creative, but I have always thought what we need in East Hawaii is a high tech campus, such as a branch of Google, Apple, or (God forbid) MS. High tech, think programmers and designers, not manufacturing, pays very well, and requires intelligent people. And, once established I would imagine a co-partnership with the local schools and UH Hilo, and a strong computer science program. In other words a chance for a real higher education for local kids.
As an example, I believe the astronomy industry (even though I have serious concerns about having given up the summit of Mauna Kea for it) is by far one of the best industries we have on island. I believe it brings in more revenue (approx $150 million annually) as well as causes intelligent people to move here who want a better life for their children than our schools are able to provide. In most cases their kids go to private schools. In some instances children that work for places like Keck are able to get into HPA, and Keck pays 75% of the tuition. If they didn't they would have a lot harder time staffing their facility. If we had more industries that required smart people our government would be encouraged to educate our children better. This in turn would bring greater cultural experiences etc., and in the long run improve our community in many ways. All with a very small impact on the environment compared to tourism.
I also think the Earth sciences are a great part of our work force, as well as having a good impact on our community, though I would have hoped that the education system would have taken greater advantage of this then they have. But all told I think we need to consider the overall effect on our community of any industry we encourage, and as I said, I believe tourism is bad for us in the log run, and wouldn't encourage it's expansion in any way.