01-06-2008, 11:34 AM
I have a petition for both of you.
Put in frequent paragraph breaks. It's too hard to read humongous blocks of text online without white space ... thanks in advance because I'm interested in reading what you have to say.
I don't think the air tours out of Hilo increase the VNP usage. Most visitors who come to stay Kona side will make at least one trip to VNP. but if they choose a helo tour they may substitute that. Cruise ship visitors have time to do an air tour or see the park, not necessarily both.
If there were no air tours, the tourists would spend the same vacation budget money on something else, whether a boat tour or more dinners, or shopping. The money will still come to the island.
Personally, and this is really a just my opinion thing, I think tourist obsession with seeing red lava is just more of the problem today of people requiring dramatic sights and adrenaline rushes to enjoy nature. Instead of a Disneyland approach, better for people to walk the ground, feel the earth, view the craters, learn something about geology. Buy some fireworks for a rush ... let Pele send her lava on its way without all the ogling.
The whole "once in a lifetime thrill" orientation towards travel does little to develop people's hearts and minds, really. It's a rush, and then they move on to the next rush. Better they take some time to find out about the real Hawai`i instead of going on an E ticket ride.
JMHO
Put in frequent paragraph breaks. It's too hard to read humongous blocks of text online without white space ... thanks in advance because I'm interested in reading what you have to say.
I don't think the air tours out of Hilo increase the VNP usage. Most visitors who come to stay Kona side will make at least one trip to VNP. but if they choose a helo tour they may substitute that. Cruise ship visitors have time to do an air tour or see the park, not necessarily both.
If there were no air tours, the tourists would spend the same vacation budget money on something else, whether a boat tour or more dinners, or shopping. The money will still come to the island.
Personally, and this is really a just my opinion thing, I think tourist obsession with seeing red lava is just more of the problem today of people requiring dramatic sights and adrenaline rushes to enjoy nature. Instead of a Disneyland approach, better for people to walk the ground, feel the earth, view the craters, learn something about geology. Buy some fireworks for a rush ... let Pele send her lava on its way without all the ogling.
The whole "once in a lifetime thrill" orientation towards travel does little to develop people's hearts and minds, really. It's a rush, and then they move on to the next rush. Better they take some time to find out about the real Hawai`i instead of going on an E ticket ride.
JMHO