Un-welcome to Turks and Caicos

Un-welcome to Turks and Caicos.  Here is the heading for the Turks and Caicos Island' Sun newspaper:

 TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS FINANCE MINISTER ATTACKS FOREIGNERS,

And I quote:  "In fact, if Misick has his way expatriates who come to the Turks and Caicos Islands to live and work would have to leave their native customs and practices behind."

So I guess it is ok to visit, just not stay and hold onto your heritage!

Local food in Restaurants attract customers

According to the 2015 Restaurant Industry Pocket Factbook (National Restaurant Association), 69% of consumers are more likely to visit a restaurant that offers locally produced food items.  See their video at this link.  And 60% want a place that offers items grown or raised in an eco-friendly way.

Teens are typically starter employees, yet the modal age of employees, accounting for 25 percent are workers in the 25-34 age bracket.

And what foods are hot?  Gluten Free!

Rachel Carson and Vincent Price

What do these two have in common?  Well, both have a birthday today May 27!

When one thinks of Rachel Carson, we think of her contribution to the environmental movement.  She was not the first, think John Muir and others, and she is not the last, think May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, but she did bring awareness to human's exploitation of our environment.

But where does Vincent Price fit into this.  Perhaps not for the environment, but instead entertainment on the fringe.  Think House on Haunted Hill, or The Tingler.

What a pair to celebrate a birthday!

Summer air travel expected to be high

US airlines are expected to carry 222 million passengers this summer beating the pre-recession record of 217 million in 2007.  On average 2.4 million passengers will fly each day, and it will seem that they are all in front of you waiting to go through security and not willing to take off those smelly shoes.

Oh yeah, don't take pictures in airport (or be real discrete about it).

Memorial Day 2015

American's claim today to be the first day of summer, but geographers know it actually is a few weeks later in June and is called the solstice.

But for today, let's honor all military who served their home lands.  According to Wikipedia:

"Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May, originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans — established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end."

Last Dead show drives up hotel rooms

If you want to see the "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 years of the Grateful Dead" shows at Chicago's Soldier Field 3, 4, or 5 July 2015, I hope you got your tickets.

Likewise try to book a hotel in the area.  Many are booked and if not, charging an arm and a leg for a room during the hottest show in town.

Gone are the days (get it), when deadheads would camp out in the VW Microbus for a show.  Deadheads are now middle aged and have comfortable incomes.  So the hotel amenities are just one of the things people want.

Almost 2,000 seats are still available for the Saturday show, starting at a couple hundred bucks for the nose bleed section of the 70,000 seat stadium.  The first seat that has a few goes for $500.  Upgrade to a suite if you care.

My first Dead show was in 1976 and I paid $10.

Graduation Tourism

Across the country, college graduations are celebrating the latest bunch of students finishing higher education.  And with the ceremony, come mom and pop, grand parents, spouses girl friends or boy friends as all of the people descend into the towns that host an institution of higher learning.

What kind of impact does that have on hotels restaurants, campus bookstores selling t-shirts?  And what about traffic jams.

This is an example of impacts of short term tourism.  The best thing for people living in college towns may be the quiet the summer brings.  The shot is from last year's WSU Graduation.

Casino Wars!

MGM is building a casino in Springfield, Massachusetts and the Connecticut Casinos are sweating "arrows" (get it?).  Anyway, a satellite casino is an option for northern Connecticut in the Hartford area or north.  Some sites are concerned about traffic (no kidding), but the chance of having two casinos 30 miles apart will certainly be exciting.

Place your bets.

Trends in Tourism

There is a cool graphic site found at the World Travel and Tourism Council at this link, that illustrates the trends in visitor exports (foreign spending ) as a percentage of exports. The green circles have different shades of green to represent growth or decline of this spending.  For example here is the one for the British Virgin Islands.

Seems my visit to the Islands of the World XII Conference 2012, “Globalisation: Islands Adapting To Change”, The Virgin Islands (British), 29 May – 1 June, 2012 was during the upswing?

Here is the key for the graphic.

Tourism in Agawam, MA

Another group project on promoting tourism in the Pioneer Valley.  Nice job!