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LOL! Little did I know I was starting a thread on first world problems. I still marvel at the fact that we trustingly hop into metal tubes with strangers and with relatively extremely little discomfort viewed in a historical perspective, we launch ourselves through the sky and across the world, for around an average weeks wages.
Seriously though, is it good or bad that tourism is slowing down? Does it affect your income? Does it have an effect on your quality of life? Do you wish there was more? Would less be better?
For Lady Tang and I, just out here in Puna or on our infrequent trips to Hilo, the level of tourism seems entirely manageable. We don't profit directly from tourism but many of the businesses we like might disappear without the tourists. Heavy perfume and cologne is probably our biggest gripe.
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"the average *profit* an airline earns per passenger per flight is between $6.00 and $20.00."
With the recent influx of sheer lunacy on board flights these days, I am surprised that the airlines have not banded together to lobby for a law to be enacted that, in addition to any criminal penalties AUTOMATICALLY, without ability to change, regardless of reason(s), puts ANY passenger causing ANY disturbance that requires preflight ejection, or during flight crew/other passenger intervention, restraint and/or requires deviation and landing prior to original destination - be put on a lifetime ban of ever flying again on any airline. Even if it means that one day a flight for medical intervention is needed to save their life - well bub, you're dead. Also extended to all cross-country forms of transportation - i.e., Amtrack, Greyhound etc. to the extent possible. Polish up your hitchhiking thumb!
"Cockpit visits and a wings pin for the kiddos."
9/11 did away with all that. Neil deGrasse Tyson once gave a good explanation about that - in that pre 9/11, the airlines procedure with any hi-jacking attempt was to negotiate and placate the hi-jackers so they did not injure or kill anyone, including opening the cockpit door for direct dialogue with the Captain. Post 9/11, no matter how many passengers the hi-jackers are killing in the back of the plane, the cockpit door isn't going to be opened. Period.
You can still get kiddy wings. Albeit plastic ones and not the lead painted molded lead ones from the old days!
"I paid more to park my car at KOA than what I paid for a rental car at the destination"
Please by all means share where you can rent a car for $24.00 a day.
"except for the bags of nuts?
OK, time to see how old everybody is! - Who remembers this gem:?
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(06-06-2024, 04:24 AM)Punatang Wrote: LOL! Little did I know I was starting a thread on first world problems. I still marvel at the fact that we trustingly hop into metal tubes with strangers and with relatively extremely little discomfort viewed in a historical perspective, we launch ourselves through the sky and across the world, for around an average weeks wages.
Seriously though, is it good or bad that tourism is slowing down? Does it affect your income? Does it have an effect on your quality of life? Do you wish there was more? Would less be better?
For Lady Tang and I, just out here in Puna or on our infrequent trips to Hilo, the level of tourism seems entirely manageable. We don't profit directly from tourism but many of the businesses we like might disappear without the tourists. Heavy perfume and cologne is probably our biggest gripe.
Tourism doesn't affect me directly, but given that the state relies on tourism more than anything else to generate a working economy, it's a single point of failure, and that's not good. We all saw how local companies suffered during the pandemic and how much prices have risen since then.
In my opinion, until the state diversifies its economy, even if it can, a drop in tourism hurts nearly everyone.
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In as much as tourism does not affect our family directly, when its down, the economy of Hawaii goes down. Which becomes that vicious cycle - which drives the cost of living to the resident up higher and higher.
The interesting fact about tourism is it's a ball constantly rolling down the hill. Gaining speed and size. First impacts air travel. The hotels. Car rentals. Entertainment. Restaurants, on and on. Each "industry" with employees. What happens when that ball hits the end of that hill?
One of the most interesting facts I learned during the Maui fires - when Maui more or less shut down to tourism overnight - was that almost immediately - 18,000 rental cars became idle. They didn't even have a place to park them all. Never even thought about that need. The place to "store" a rental car is at the hotel the customer is staying at!
And then - consider at 50 bucks a day to rent a car - that's 900,000 bucks a day into the economy and poof it's gone!
And that's just rental cars!
But the real question is, aside from tourism, what can Hawaii do that can run an economy that benefits all - most importantly - its own people?
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Hawaii's bureaucracy and anti-business laws have made any alternatives to tourism difficult, and now they are making tourism difficult.
Case in point- these are figures off the internet so may not be 100% accurate and currency conversion plays a role so just consider them ballpark. I choose Japan as the reference because we get a lot of Japanese tourists.
Minimum wage in Hawaii: $14/hour. Increases $2/hour every other year.
Minimum wage in Japan: $6.09 - $7.66 depending on Prefecture, average $7.17.
Average wage of a hotel housekeeper in Japan: $8.24/hour. Average of a Hawaii housekeeper $16-$21.83. And now it's considered appropriate to add a gratuity.
Annual average income of a Japanese worker: $41,509. Hawaii: $61,410.
Hawaii hotel taxes (Oahu) 17.9%. Japan 9%. Hawaii resort fees per night $30-$50. Japan- resort fees are not common.
Restaurants- moderately priced: Hawaii $30-50. Japan $15-30.
Maybe our tourism is suffering because we're pricing everybody out?
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Yes, currency conversion plays into it. My Japanese sources have said the country is overrun with tourists because the yen is so weak. You may have seen how one town put up a barrier blocking a view of Fuji, because tourists were crowding into the street, blocking traffic, to get their perfect photo of themselves and the snow peaked mountain for their Instagram page. Even with a convenience store covering the bottom half of Fuji.
The tourists cut holes in the barrier.
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So imagine the other way- the weak yen just makes Hawaii even more unaffordable to the Japanese.
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unaffordable to the Japanese.
Yes.
I friend returned from Japan (“everything was so cheap”) and went grocery shopping in Hilo on her return (“I can’t afford to eat!”)
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Well the USA is borrowing 10 billion dollars a day into existence, and most of the countries are at least keeping up with that rate. All of that inflation couldn't go into the equity markets forever.
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06-06-2024, 08:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-06-2024, 08:34 PM by Punatang.)
Hawaii is expensive period due to horrid management of the state. Headwinds like The Jones Act. Corruption. Etc.
But there is also talk of a movement toward a more high dollar, low impact tourist. It is a conscious effort to price out budget traveling Instagram morons who climb all over places they should not be and post about it to attract more budget Instagram morons. People on Maui and Kauai are over that. Over it.
They want high dollar whales that come, eat, sleep, go on expensive tours to approved spots, do not attempt to reside in Airbnbs in their neighborhoods, and then get on a plane and go home.
Japan's yen is sending them in the opposite direction and...
The tourists cut holes in the barrier.
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