I am not going to argue about it Rock. There is so much more to the issue than I want to get into.
Most all nations in Europe could do a better job of support than what they do.

If they offered as much support (both political and militarily) as the effort they apply to get our tourist dollars the I would have no complaints.

"wpr" wrote:

American Express has shuttered two decades-old offices in major tourist cities. Taxi drivers are wailing that Americans and their big tips are nowhere to be seen. Clerks at the upscale clothiers along Via dei Condotti are helping buyers from Russia and Chinathe only holiday travelers found sifting through their racks one day last week.

Americans just arent here, said driver Piero Capotosti, who used to draw a dependable income from Americans. He estimates his traffic has dropped as much as 40 percent from last year.

They dont have the money. You can really feel it, he said. Now a lot of tourists are taking low-cost tours or coming from Eastern Europe. We have a name for them: The tight-fisted tourists.

The number of American visitors to Italy has fallen about 20 percent in the past year, according to tourism agenciesa painful slide for a country that saw American tourism shrivel after 9/11 and never fully rebound.

This latest drop, however, indicates that the travel industry has been hurt by the global slowdown and Italy has company in its misery. Britain this month is reporting a sizable downturn in visitors in the last three months of 2008. Overall, the number of foreign visitors dropped 5 percent from 2007, but the numbers from North America fell the most 12 percent.

Data maintained by the Bank of Italy are revealing: The number of American visitors fell from 2.5 million in 2006 to 1.75 million as of September 2008.

The tourism loss has a ripple effect, agents pointed out. A 20 percent dip in Americans can mean as much as a million admissions lost in museums and tourist sites, by some estimates. Matteo Marsotto, chairman of the National Tourism Agency, told reporters in December that the data are not encouraging.

The US Department of Commerce recently announced that international visitors spent an estimated US$9.9 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of August an increase of 1 percent over July 2009. However, when compared to the same period last year, international visitor spending is down more than 21 percent for the month.

Travel Receipts: Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled US$7.8 billion for the month, a decrease of more than 20 percent in comparison with last year. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and other items incidental to foreign travel.

Passenger Fare Receipts: Fares received by US carriers (and US vessel operators) from international visitors decreased nearly 25 percent to US$2.1 billion for the month, a decrease of more than US$700 million when compared to August 2008.

August 2009 marks the tenth straight month in which US travel and tourism-related exports were lower when compared to the same period of the previous year, having declined in November 2008 (-4 percent), December 2008 (-2 percent), January 2009 (-6 percent), February 2009 (-10 percent), March 2009 (-18 percent), April 2009 (-14 percent), May 2009 (-23 percent), June 2009 (-22 percent), July (-22 percent), and now August 2009 (-21 percent).

Hawaii's ok. You got to go to Kauai or Molokai now because the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu are overdeveloped.

Funny thing, people love to dog American tourists, but at least we spend money. Speaking of biting the hand that feeds.

"zombieslayer" wrote:

The gattlin gun didn't do any damage?

I guess it's convenient to say don't bring a knife to a gun fight. And when everything comes clean in the wash, everyone is suppose to say, oh well, let's get on with it.

Conquered people have their futures dictated to them. But did the conqueror's have the right in the first place?

People bitch about the illegals crossing the border, or are they people coming back to the lands that were once theirs. Tough call all the way around.

"DakotaT" wrote:

"zombieslayer" wrote: