Canadians Crowd U.s. Airports. Why? Taxes

[Thebean]

We'll, we're getting close to beating a dead horse here.

There are 53 ship arrivals in July 2012 in Victoria. 35 of them, (or 66%) are scheduled to arrive at 6pm or later, with departures at 23:59. We all know arrivals rarely arrive precisely on time and the cruise lines want their guests back on board well before the actual departure time.

That leaves precious little time to rush out in buying frenzy and prime the local economy.

Besides, most of the arrivals are on the last night of the cruise, at the dinner hour, with passengers facing the gong show of mass, simultaneous disembarkation in Seattle a few hours later. A further consideration: When you go on an all inclusive holiday, (which is, in essence, what a cruise is, with the exception of shore trips and booze), do you spend more of your discretionary cash at the beginning of the trip or on the last night of the trip? Do you partake in the included dinners or choose to go off campus and eat dinner elsewhere?

Less than 20% of the arrivals allow fo what most people would consider a "full day" in Victoria. Those are the arrivals that pump money into the local economy.

The rest? Not so much, and what is spent, is extremely localized. Good for a few, including Butchart Gardens and the Empress with their mind popping $59.95 evening version of the afternoon tea with 7 seatings between 7pm and 9:30pm, but for the rest, the impact is marginal, if anything.

A neighbor of mine owns one of Victoria's premiere restaurants, located closer to the Johnson Street bridge and he reports little to no impact from the cruise business.

Nothing makes me happier than to see my aviation taxes being spent to subsidize the foreign flagged cruise industry so the Empress Fairmont can extract $59.95 from dumb tourists for afternoon tea in the evening. That leaves me with a warm and fuzz feeling. As a tourist, after suffering that sort of "gotcha!" precision cashendechtomy on my wallet, I could hardly wait to return to Victoria......

If you've spent anytime on Vancouver Island, you must be familiar with how the locals feel about BC Ferries or having to fly through YVR to get anywhere.

WJ has made a fortune over the years by exploiting this knowledge of the local market. Overfly YVR wherever possible.