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Margate Writer: the Beaches have lost their Luster
• South Florida tourism taking a hit
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Wednesday,
July 8, 2009
Recent news from Washington reveals 48 United States senators backing a bill called the “Travel Promotion Act,” a bill currently in Congress designed to jolt American tourism with global advertising campaigns funded by charging international visitors a $10 entry fee to the U.S.
At face, the bill sounds promising to South Floridians, as 70 percent of our economy rests on tourism.
Florida Senator, Mel Martinez, supports Senate Bill 1023. He blames tightened security at airports and a “complicated and cumbersome” process that discourages the international community from visiting South Florida.
Nikki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, told a local news agency that when U.S. officials imposed new visa requirements after the 911 attacks, the United States sent a message to the world that we no longer care about tourism.
Well, if indeed these two are correct, I'm in favor of national security over tourism. But international travelers aren’t coming to South Florida because its tough to get in the door.
They're not coming because our beaches aren't what they used to be.
THE HONEST TRUTH WHY TOURISM IS DOWN IN SOUTH FLORIDA
Sadly enough, the South Florida coast is no longer a beautiful place. From Fort Lauderdale to South Beach, once gorgeous shoreline has been supplanted with condominium monoliths, townhomes and hotels. The art of hospitality has sunken to an all time low and value is a word that no longer applies.
Who speaks English anymore?: Speaking Spanish goes a long way in attracting South and Central American Tourists, but what about the rest of the world? For me, Miami and Miami Beach is no fun anymore. The language barrier is too great and Hispanic shop owners and employees are generally unfriendly to anyone who isn’t like them. It’s a cultural thing, I guess.
Where have all the educated people gone?: I’m amazed at the low level of communication skills persistent among hospitality workers along the coast. It’s as if they live in their own “dumb as a doornail” misfit world, and pride themselves little on knowing about the products they serve or sell or facts about the general area and its history.
Customer Service, ever hear of it?: Bad customer service runs rampant in South Florida. Hospitality staffs are poorly trained, job knowledge is limited and workers are often shabbily dressed and hung-over. You’ll wait a long time when the bar is busy and a long time when it’s dead.
In mom and pop apparel shops, cashiers and attendants generally lack professionalism, are seemingly uncaring and aren’t very good at the “hello,” “thank you” and “goodbye” aspects of the transaction. Some don’t speak English very well and can’t add or subtract…literally.
Few things on the beach aren’t a rip-off: Drinks, $10 each. A Turkey Club for $15, glass wine for $12 and the same ‘Made in China’ tchotchke, bathing suits and bikinis sold at Wal-Mart but for three times the price. Las Olas is ridiculous and South Beach even worse – it’s cheaper to go on cruise.
We live here. You’re just a tourist. Go home: Ever hear a restaurant server or bartender complain about the tip left from a French Canadian, Brit or otherwise European tourist? Then insult them? This negative attitude has manifested itself in South Florida’s hospitality industry in the worst of ways.
Ignorant, Self-absorbed Youth: Millennials – who have defaulted to hospitality work as a result of dropping out of high school or not going to college – have flooded the hospitality industry. This generational group is less concerned about serving visitors and the public than they are about answering their cell phones, sex, body art, ipods or their hair. They often don’t show up for work and, when they do, can be intoxicated or hung-over from the night before, finding it difficult to function and be sharp. Few things are more reassuring that watching service staff scratch at their unwashed scalp, play with piercings and pick scabs from newly-crafted tattoos.
Overdevelopment: It’s rather sickening to see that over the years we’ve allowed unfettered development in the worst of ways, crippling the natural beauty of our beaches and sending wildlife running for cover. What do we have to show for it? A perpetual drought, lots of empty high-rises and accelerated erosion. We're planning to build more.
In questioning the potential effectiveness of the Travel Promotion Act, Florida Senator, Diaz de la Portilla, recounted how he phoned the Kansas City-based VisitFlorida call center five times and kept getting wrong answers about Florida destinations (four of the five operators could not name Tallahassee as the state capital), as reported by eTN, Global Travel Industry News.
For those of you unfamiliar with VisitFlorida; it’s Florida’s official travel planning website, endorsed by Governor Charlie Crist. They’re lobbying to pass the Travel Promotion Act because the Florida-funded vacation service is cash-strapped and the state short $5 billion in the budget.
VistiFlorida gets $35 million a year from Florida taxpayers, which is more than half of the $64 million in cash needed to keep the agency solvent (which ultimately means paying bloated salaries).
Florida Senator, Rhonda Storms, accused VisitFlorida of a “fatal flaw in judgment” by paying an out-of-state company $600,000 to manage their call center when Florida taxpayers foot the bill and Florida companies desperately need the work.
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Copyright Cassius Group 2009
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