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Tourism labels are misleading
"Pro-tourism."
What does it really mean?
Recently, there
has been a local effort to label the never-can-get-enough approach to
business as "pro-tourism." Any alternative view is labeled as
"anti-tourism."
If you don't seek
greater crowds next year than you saw this year, then you are
"anti-tourism." If you aren't willing to accept the added pressures of
traffic, noise, filth and incivility, then you are "anti-tourism." If
you support a sensible balance, wherein cruise ship passengers do not
overwhelm our infrastructure on any given day, then you are
"anti-tourism."
Who allowed these
extremists to hijack the word "pro-tourism" and label anyone who
disagrees with their selfish goal of exploiting Key West as
"anti-tourism?"
The problem with
the word "tourism" is that it only refers to the money that those who
are more than willing to sacrifice your quality of life are able to
stuff into their pockets at the end of the day.
But of even less
concern than [our] well-being is, to this self-ascribed "pro-tourism"
clan, the people who are really receiving the short end of the stick —
the tourists themselves. You see, the more-business-at-any-cost gang has
no regard for the very tourists that they seek to fleece. It seems that
"pro-tourism" actually translates to "anti-tourist."
I know a little
bit about the ruthlessness of this group. In the past several weeks, I
have received a bomb threat and a call to boycott my business. All the
while, I consider myself "pro-tourism." For 15 years, I have offered an
excellent product and value to tourists from all over the world. Many
guidebooks regard my restaurant as one of the things that is still
special about Key West.
Moreover, I
consider myself "pro-tourist," and somebody had better start speaking up
for [the tourists], or they are going to stop coming. In fact, residents
and tourists' interests are closely aligned. Nobody wants to visit a
place that is too crowded, even cruise ship passengers.
On March 11, the
city scheduled five cruise ships on a single day. To call attention to
poor planning on the part of our local government — during the busiest
portion of the year — locals were encouraged to utilize their own public
streets.
Protests are
intended to call attention to issues. It received ample publicity before
the event and the demonstration was carried in scores, if not hundreds,
of newspapers. There are very few residents today who don't realize that
there were five cruise ships in town on March 11.
Even before the
event took place, a phone call was placed to my business threatening to
kill me and blow up my restaurant. ... Since then, another "pro-tourism"
extremist suggested in a letter to the editor on April 7 that business
people who put their personal profits above the well-being of our
residents and tourists should join him in a boycott of my business. You
can guess with which company he turned out to be employed.
One of the
interesting facts to emerge from all of this is that cruise ship
passengers themselves agreed with the protesters. Following the event,
postings cropped up on Internet bulletin boards from frequent cruisers
that stated that, based on their experiences, Key West was overcrowded
with even two cruise ships in port. Many felt that limits should be
placed on all cruise ports. Cruise ship passengers agreed: Overcrowded
ports are a bummer.
So who is
benefiting? A small segment that puts its own short-term profit over the
rights of residents to enjoy their homes and the expectations of our
tourists to actually receive the vacation that they bought into.
How did this
self-serving group ever lay claim to the title "pro-tourism?" By
grabbing it like they grab everything else. Let's call them what they
really are and reserve the term "pro-tourism" for those who at least
have a shred of respect for our tourists.
Elliot Baron
Key West
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