V Islanders opinion of tourists and their impact ???

I welcome them with open arms. They bring money to spend here and help keep people employed. Its fun to come across them working downtown. They often seemed shocked when you say good morning to them, like why is this stranger talking to me and not just doing the stateside eye nod thing.

The only why they bother me is by driving the speed limit or lower then the speed limit!!! Go with the flow of traffic folks. And as I stated earlier I hate the triathlon. I know it brings in money but its a pain in the a$$ in my book.

ON STX, I think they are an important part of our economy but not like other islands where we are totally Dependant on them. I think our biggest sources of income here are the vi govt, hovensa, private business and then tourism.

Interesting question. I would actually ask the following. Would there be a Virgin Islands without tourists? Other then the geographical thing called Virgin Island islands.

I guess I should have included,

Does you work or living depend on tourism?

I'm peripherally involved, not directly, so my work isn't tourism dependent

Even if you're peripherally related you could be directly related by virtue of where money comes from Let's say you worked for a law firm as a paralegal. I would suspect that the law firm had no direct income from tourists. But what if that law firm represented several restaurants and a few main street, stt stores.

See you might be more directly affected then you think. My guess is those shops either wouldn't be there or cease to exist.

I love tourists and I want them all to fall in love with the VI. I want them to come back. I want them to tell their friends what a great place this is.

(no, my work/living does not depend on tourists with the caveat that without tourists, this island's economy will DIE)

promo: Where ya been, meh son? Happy belated B-Day.

I enjoy visitors. I remember when I was one, too. 😉

Thanks for the belated. Been less on the forum, but got a reintro when I saw reference to VINOWTV and thought well done.

I've also been worried my country. So decided to come back and try to bring a right wing Atilla the Hun view to what's going on. And as for visits. Well, last year it was Ireland for a couple of weeks and although this year was a visit year, my IRA told me maybe to hold off.

But here's the best part of my personal update. As of June this year I sucking on the teet of government sucking up my Medicare benefits. And announcing that in Jan of next year will be attacking the social security fund. So all you worker bees out there, work harder so your employers will deduct a greater portion of your income to subsidize my teet sucking.

Does you work or living depend on tourism?

Nope. And I think tourists are great!

I like watching the reaction of tourists when I stop traffic to let them cross the street in downtown, makes me remember one of the little things I love about NOT living in the states anymore.

On a not so related question, I friend of mine who does a bunch of sailing downisland commented that C'sted is one of the most scenic harbors to sail into, yet St.Croix doesn't attract very many boats from outside of the USVI. Anyone else have experirence or an opinion, or how we could attract more the sailing/yacht community?

I agree, I like the tourists... it's always a kick to watch people getting ga-ga over the same things I got ga-ga over several years ago. And I like watching them visibly settle into the island... day one, uptight and in a hurry, day five, not wanting to leave, walking slowly and smiling and saying good morning. It's cool.

I have been told that it is because we have a dangerous harbor reef to negotiate is why many stay away.
My son-in-law took the sailing class here to get his credentials (?) so he could sail a larger boat. However the school was up front when they told him that he would probably have to go the STT to be able to rent a boat for the reason mentioned above.