Thursday, July 28, 2005

Visitors?

What makes local people think that visitors bring money into the town?They used to, when we had Hotels ETC...But not now. Why? Simple really! We have 2000 holiday homes here, these people that come on holiday bring everything with them. The lot! They do not provide employment. Nor do the day trippers.All these folk do is clog up the town, While if you go in the local cafes, they are virtually empty..So why have them? Admitted they will shop in our two big stores, but you can hardly claim that they provide much in the way of extra employment! For instance, try waiting at the checkouts!No, all these trippers do is wander around, then go home. So where is the money that is supposed to come in for the benefit of the town???If you take into consideration our council tax, it seems to me that we subsidise these people that clutter up our home town.Now I know that there will be "Incoming fire" but first tell me what money is brought in here by day visiters or holiday homes.....For there is nothing else!

Dancing Ledge
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18 comments:

nick storer said...

Holiday accommodation, be it caravans, tents, hotels or second homes subsidise and enrich our way of life. Many businesses rely on them -such as restaurants, letting agencies, seasonal shops, the beach concessionaires, fast food operators and the market traders. Even day-trippers spend money on ice cream, a deck chair, car parking, Swanage Railway, or in a Public House.
To suggest the local economy could in some way become self-supporting in its present form is crazy. It would lead to a very insular and disinteresting Town. We may never get back to the tourist heydays of the 50-70’s, when running a seasonal business must have been like throwing buns to an elephant, but that’s O.K. so long as we evolve.
If you want fewer tourists, then support infrastructure improvements, and let’s market the Town accordingly. The marina would have displaced the need for several coaches of day-trippers.

28/7/05 2:21 pm
Anonymous said...

Dancing Ledge,

You live in a parallel universe!

Andy

28/7/05 2:25 pm
Anonymous said...

knowing the tidal flow around the bay, the marina would have been a floating sewer!
Dancing Ledge

28/7/05 5:09 pm
Anonymous said...

presumably not now with the new sewage works

28/7/05 5:15 pm
Anonymous said...

I was hoping everyone would think this posting was too absurd to be worth a comment. If tourists dont spend any money how come shops and eating places catering for them have driven almost every other form of retailing out of the town. Rows of trinket shops and cafes are not the usual thing for a town centre. Perhaps Dancing Ledge should have an eye test- while we still have an optician to go to.

28/7/05 5:53 pm
Keith Roker said...

Those with long memories will recall that in the 70s when many hoteliers discovered that converting to self catering brought in pretty much the same income for a lot less work it was said that self catering visitors brought everything they needed with them so there is nothing new in this arguement. Now that self catering has given way to caravans and tents its probably less of a problem as witnessed by the unstoppable development of take-away food outlets. Can we have a grown up debate about how we can influence the development of Swanage for the better and how we can bring investment here on a large enough scale to make a difference.

Perhaps on planet Dancing Ledge there is an earnest committee of citizens which decides who gets let into town and who does not but round here folk are still free to come and go as they choose.

28/7/05 6:11 pm
Anonymous said...

The sewage I meant was from the boats in the Marina. The tidal flow would have kept it in near the pier.

What makes my mind boggle is how holiday homes subsidise our way of life. That, it seems to me is pushing the imagination a little, being the local population subsidised them for years with their reduced council tax.

As to my eye sight? Must admit to it not being quite up to scratch.

But like all local folk, I can see all that I want to thanks!
Dancing Ledge

28/7/05 7:14 pm
nick storer said...

Do you think there would be a Regatta and Carnival with activities for the kids and fireworks if we didn't have a load of people staying in the Town this week? Many people don't want to stay in hotels any more. Not just because most can't afford it. Folk are accustomed to renting out an apartment in beach and in ski resorts. The only shame is when flats sit empty almost all year. The block opposite me has three permanent residents out of 18 flats. Their leases prohibit holiday letting! A sharp drop in flat prices or an interest rate hike may sort it out. Things go in cycles. Swanage needs to work on its desirability as a holiday destination.

28/7/05 7:53 pm
nick storer said...

ps I mean not dictate what sort of accommadation visitors should stay in. Don't forget two new hotel sites were opposed recently: Obviously the one at the Haven, and Shore House opposite Ocean Bay (which ironically ended up as a care home instead).

28/7/05 7:59 pm
Keith Roker said...

It would be interesting to kow how much of a black market there is in self catering holiday accomodation. If you put your property with an agent they have to give 30% or so of the income to the inland revenue on your behalf. If you do it yourself "informally" it up to you what you declare. This may go some way to explaining how the town can be full of visitors but the official figures for accommodation show a year on year decline.

What has happened amounts to a kind of privatisation within the private sector. Instead of a building having a single owner who runs it as holiday lets each flat is seperately owned and we have no idea of the real occupancy rate.

Nick is right to say part of the answer is increasing occupancy but the effect of the market has been to make it overwhelmingly attractive to sell letting property piecemeal.

At the moment it costs quite a lot to rent a holiday appartment here and this does not seem to be an impediment. The question is whether the rest of the Swanage experience can be improved in quality to reflect this. The marina would have gone a long way towards this. If a family have paid £1000 to be here for the week we need to ask what else they are willing to spend on.

The Times recently ran a piece on British seaside resort which started with a eulogy to Swanage which was such a piece of hyperbole that I hardly recognised the place so perhaps we are going in the right direction.

Heres how it starts "Strange little Swanage is a resort apart. Salted away in a far-off corner of Dorset, it fights shy of big crowds, even in summer, and the folks who do make it to the end of the A351 tend to walk about with enigmatic smiles, like keepers of an especially nice secret."

More marketing aimed at Times readers and the like would seem to be in order.

29/7/05 2:42 pm
Anonymous said...

Dear Dancing Ledge, perhaps if you did manage to get your eyes sorted you may get to see the Bigger Picture

30/7/05 7:49 pm
Anonymous said...

Oh Mr Dancing Ledge. Hopefully you are eating humble pie but I doubt it. I guess you dont live in the heart of town if you can't see the devastation of shops by tourists. Queing for 15 minutes for a paper on a Sunday, searching the town for an elusive pint of milk. Packing a bag of supplies in order to reach my car parked somewhere closer to Wareham than home.
Annoying visitors may be but lets encourage them and keep this town alive.
Mr Royston Vasey

31/7/05 8:06 pm
the swan said...

I have been going to Swanage for over 40 years. The caravan sight I use started as a small hill farm and now has a swimming pool,shop bar and cafe, which I am sure are used by local people as well as visitors. Swanage is a lovely place but I do find some of the locals are not as friendly as they used to be and there is some hostility towards boats, jet ski,s and camper vans. A great shame..

4/8/05 8:16 pm
RobO said...

The Representation of the People Act 2000 enables second or third home' i.e. property owners to have a vote in election for the property they own. Now it should be only on local not General Elections, but as there is no policing of the register who knows who voted for what and when ?

Having canvassed during the elections I became very aware that the names on the electorial register I had did not relate to occupied properties, 60% on the front line to the sea, 40% on the second line and generally about 30% elsewhere.

RobO

6/8/05 6:07 pm
Anonymous said...

If the marina vote had included second home owners I think the result would have been very different.

8/8/05 3:54 pm
Anonymous said...

what about looking at employment opportunities. If we loose the extended family we will become a one sided community. There has been enough restrictive thinking already. don't let us loose all our young people.

8/8/05 7:39 pm
Keith Roker said...

Here we are in August, up to our eyebrows with buckets and spades. How about not having any events which attract people in August, when they are going to come here regardless, and holding them before and after, for example by moving carnival to the summer half term holiday. That way we extend the season and get away from the feeding frenzy we have now.

16/8/05 3:15 pm
Anonymous said...

Not a bad idea, whatever happens I'll be visiting Swanage at every opportunity anyway.

Mark

19/10/05 12:41 pm

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