Will the SPCo destroy what tourism sector we have left?

[Max Power]

1 minute ago, 0bserver said:

Do we actually even need tourism? 

It's a low pay industry that accounts for very little in GDP. The wages of those in tourism are often topped up with government benefits as many fall below the tax threshold. 

So-called holiday cottages remove much needed housing from the local housing stock, in turn forcing up rents and property prices of the market. 

So-called tourist attractions lose money hand over fist on an annual basis. Railways, trams, crappy museums - all of it rinses the taxpayer and doesn't have a snowflake in hells chance of breaking even. Then they need millions sinking in to them - just look at this week's story about the Peggy. 

Let tourism go. It's yesterdays industry. 

Concentrate on making the island an amazing place where people want to live and develop sustainable, non-tax draining business.

I believe that tourism is the catalyst to make this place somewhere worth living, more tourism means more attractions and facilities. Without it, many places will find it's not worth the effort!

[genericUserName]

6 minutes ago, Max Power said:

I believe that tourism is the catalyst to make this place somewhere worth living

This is already a great place to live. If you don't see it, why not move somewhere else?

[genericUserName]

I mean that nicely - no point living somewhere you don't think is worth living.

[0bserver]

11 minutes ago, Max Power said:

I believe that tourism is the catalyst to make this place somewhere worth living, more tourism means more attractions and facilities. Without it, many places will find it's not worth the effort!

Tourism attractions and facilities are exactly that though... facilities and attractions for tourists. 

Take the Laxey Wheel. It's shite. Do you think anymore than say 1% of the resident population makes repeat visits there throughout the year? 

Things that would make the island an even better place to live would be world class healthcare, proper on-island education, affordable homes, family friendly governent policies such as affordable childcare. 

Tourism here is just an excuse to keep a few well paid civil servants in jobs at DfE/Visit Isle of Man and a few people in the private sector to make a quick buck off the back of the taxpayer by selling key rings and guided tours. 

For Tourism to be successful you need a critical mass of somewhere like Vegas or the Canary Islands. At that point it becomes self sustaining and doesn't need tens of millions from government to support it. That's never going to happen here, so let's stop trying and instead put our time and money into something worthwhile. 

[P.K.]

FFS!

Of course the fares at TT are obscene profiteering - plain and simple.

Therefore the issue is are they so high that demand falls away...?

I guess we'll find out.

Mind you, nobody likes being ripped off....

[0bserver]

43 minutes ago, P.K. said:

FFS!

Of course the fares at TT are obscene profiteering - plain and simple.

Therefore the issue is are they so high that demand falls away...?

I guess we'll find out.

Mind you, nobody likes being ripped off....

If they don't then they're not maximising profit for the GMP. Ramp them up another 25% for TT. 

[asitis]

6 hours ago, 0bserver said:

If they don't then they're not maximising profit for the GMP. Ramp them up another 25% for TT. 

Whilst I agree with the sentiment of supporting the long suffering taxpayer this never works. A simile would be the failing restaurant, that as its customer base falls, its prices rise, seen that many times and always ends the same way !

[Banker]

There’s plenty of good fares available throughout year & obviously TT is more expensive, I’ve booked car +2 return in June for £329. Try other ferries in peak times & you will find very expensive fares, check Scilly islands, extortion!!

[Ringy Rose]

2 hours ago, asitis said:

A simile would be the failing restaurant, that as its customer base falls, its prices rise, seen that many times and always ends the same way

If off-peak fares were stratospheric I'd agree, but they're not. For TT, my view is that if the boats are full then there's room to charge a bit more. It's what airlines and private ferry companies do.

The only downside is where residents need to travel at TT time, there should be a discount for residents.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Ringy Rose

[Non-Believer]

There's quite a lot of adverts like this on the various FB TT pages, people wanting to sell their tickets/bookings on because they've got changes of plan for whatever reason...but it's worth considering the outstanding balance on this particular example and it's not atypical.

[0bserver]

4 hours ago, asitis said:

Whilst I agree with the sentiment of supporting the long suffering taxpayer this never works. A simile would be the failing restaurant, that as its customer base falls, its prices rise, seen that many times and always ends the same way !

The Steam Packet are letting us down if they don't charge TT visitors the absolute highest price they can. At least another 10% should be do-able and I suspect another 25% would be achievable. There's a new ferry to pay for after all. 

There's no point making the ferry cheap to get here in TT. It needs to be people with deep pockets who will then spend big while they're here too.

[Hoops]

I think surge pricing is great, a big plus for capitalism.

When our politicians finally see the light and fully commodify health services, I look forward to paying more to see a doctor in winter.

[asitis]

2 hours ago, Ringy Rose said:

If off-peak fares were stratospheric I'd agree, but they're not. For TT, my view is that if the boats are full then there's room to charge a bit more. It's what airlines and private ferry companies do.

The only downside is where residents need to travel at TT time, there should be a discount for residents.

I can agree with that, I wanted to go away just before TT but the fare was astronomic, adding another week prior to TT saved upwards of £400.00 !.

I'm not sure about what point the golden goose gets mortally wounded though in respect of maximising TT revenues !

[Non-Believer]

48 minutes ago, 0bserver said:

It needs to be people with deep pockets who will then spend big while they're here too.

How many of these people does the road-racing motorcycling demographic contain though?

[A fool and his money.....]

15 hours ago, Max Power said:

I believe that tourism is the catalyst to make this place somewhere worth living, more tourism means more attractions and facilities. Without it, many places will find it's not worth the effort!

Totally agree, you don't have to look too far back to see examples of this.

The nationalisation of the Racket was a golden opportunity to breath new life into tourism here. We use it to easily heavily subsidise the cost of getting here, specifically for tourists (not residents), subsidise more in quiet periods, it could have made a huge difference.

Instead we pay many, many millions more than we should have for a company we've now had to invest further millions into and let the same crooks who were running it before run it at arms length - the worst of both worlds!

It really makes you wonder whether we'll ever have any politicians with imagination or any vision, other than throwing money at people to come and live here to pay for their gold plated pensions.