I'm interested in the members' thoughts on the future of tourism. I've read lots about how the rising middle class in Asia means great things for tourism in the South East Asian region. On the flip side, I've read about how the "eco conscious" West will begin to view air travel as polluting and obnoxious unless there is an inherent need to travel. Do you have a stance or view? Would you invest in tourism given the current economic climate?
The west is hardly eco-conscious enough to have an impact. Alternatively there are boats, but not if you want to go to Australia. Realistically though, I'd anticipate a rise in localised tourism.
The eco conscious can stay at home then . Air travel is not going away . Although i think we will have less carriers & higher prices in the future with all the losses on the books lately I doubt peoples curiosity to explore the unknown will ever wane .
I am hoping that local tourism will take over as prices to leave Australia by plane rise and if the AU$ declines it will become more expensive for us to holiday abroad but cheaper for people overseas to come to us. However, trying to convince my wife that there is no point leaving Australia to go to another hot country to sit on their beach is difficult. I hope to retire early from my current job and transition into full retirement by running a little bed&breakfast somewhere in SE Qld. I have picked the area but now I am looking for a suitable plot with a decent view and enough space to be secluded. My ultimate aim is to build a secret bug out location for preppers, disguised as a holiday camp. During times of economic stability it will act as a holiday camp and I will sell units to preppers' SMSF to expand the accommodation. During SHTF the holiday camp will close down and all the preppers will bug out to the mountains with me. I still have to convince my wife that this is a good idea. So yes, I am banking on local tourism, ecotourism, walking tours and people not wanting to go to water parks or the big city, or the beach for watersports etc. I am banking on housing prices rising so that people can't afford to invest in big homes but are able to invest in a holiday let. I am banking on there being enough people looking for a bug-out location but not having the money to actually buy acreage themselves. I am banking on people switching to SMSFs and looking for somewhere to park their money. I am banking on there being enough preppers out there who are looking for a bug out location that doubles up as an income generator during the good times.
I think more and more tourists (Japan and Faroe Islands) will visit Australia as whale numbers steadily increase off our coastal waters. The Faroe Islands folk will be salivating as they view "Migaloo" whilst the Japs will hum to the music of "Flipper". There's great viewing for these folk from the cliffs south of Sydney or The Great Ocean Road.
Does he have a SMSF? I think this is mostly why my wife is not convinced that it is such a great idea...
All the more reason to build up numbers, and you plan has merit on that front (better than going it alone). If you can't handle Mick, good luck during the apocalypse.
Good craic. It went the way I expected it - prepping, but much like Agnostic's Opportunity Cost thread the other day, it's had me thinking. While I don't work in tourism, the towns I often live in are heavily reliant on tourism. Their profit margins are massive, as tourism staff are willing to get paid peanuts to work their "dream job" and people that hate their every day job pay stupid money to enjoy their "dream holiday". I've had a few ideas in the back of my mind for a while but held off for fear of the future (which I'm getting impatient with) - I reckon 2015 might be the year of finally stepping up.
You think? I don't see that here, I see downsizing, cost cutting, redundancies, shrinking services, decaying infrastructure and closures. None of those are signs of massive profit margins.
We always get shell shock when we come back from holidays and add up all we have spent. Granted a lot of that money spent isn't pure profit for the tourism industry once you take wages, overheads, compliance costs, tax and everything else into account. It still costs me a fortune and I don't see the value in it, but I come from England, so just living in Australia is like one long holiday to me.
Visiting an overseas destination has never been as cheap and easy as it is now. I cant see tourism dying off any time soon, but trends do change over time which leads to dips in the popularity of certain destinations. One problem with the growth in tourists from Asia is that they favour package tours. These are usually offered by companies that are based in their own country. By paying for an all inclusive trip with these companies they can almost avoid spending any money at all in the local economy of their destination.
We stayed on a couple of Greek islands last year, went out to the local restraunts and bars etc. Got talking to some locals at a cafe who were interested in seeing some tourists around the place. Apparently the place we were staying was a popular tourist spa. Most of the customers were french, and they never leave the resort, never eat out, never go to the town, or the bars or even the beach. The staff is all from the village but all the food is shipped in. The locals don't get any real benefit from the resort. Luckily for them the Greeks tend to holiday in Greece so they are not reliant on overseas tourism.
I've never seen such a good time to have an overseas holiday. Airfares are cheap as they'll ever get, Aussie dollar is still high, there's plenty of cheap accommodation and specials. However in Australia it's quite expensive to holiday, unless you're camping, even then it's expensive for what you get. It only seems to make sense holidaying in Australia if you're with kids. Those extra airfares make all the difference.
I should note that I have little to no knowledge of Australian tourism. The examples I were referring to are OS.
