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@dogmeat said in NZ Politics:
I think achieving the Holy Grail of fewer tourists spending a shit load more and not over stretching our resources and infrastructure would be great, but can't see it happening
great why?
and how? by operators charging more? What happens when kiwis on holiday want to see stuff? what happens to them? "yeah mate we have a locals discount, it's 50%" that'll go down a fucking treat on the world market.
I have real problems with any sort of suggestion that is aimed at stopping people visiting a country. And that's not industry related, that's humanity related
"yeah, come see NZ it's fucking beautiful. but only if you spend $10k a week while you are here. otherwise fuck off"Your labour point is very very pertinent, as an enormous number of people are realising now.
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What NZ doesn't need ids to become some sort of mass tourism shit hole like parts of southern spain or phuket.
I get that mass tourism employs more people but the industry was akin to our forestry sector shipping logs instead of adding value.
This is a gross generalisation obviously, there are / were plenty of innovative tourism operators offering real value but a lot of businesses in the sector were pretty much subsistence, cost cutting volume driven businesses.
A lot of things we sell to the world as reasons to come to NZ were in danger of being overwhelmed by the numbers. Great Walks that book out inside ten minutes Queues to get the necessary instagram shot.
I You asked what would be great about fewer tourists spending a shit load more and not over stretching our infrastructure and resources. The answers in bold
I'm not in favour of the governments tax BTW and I'm not one of those that think tourism has already ruined NZ. I hadn't been to Queenstown for a few years and expected it to be 'ruined' from the comments I had heard, whereas it clearly hadn't. Tourism has enhanced the experience for every Kiwi in so many ways by encouraging a broader range of experiences and options and increasing the quality on offer in many ways. However there does come a tipping point and I think it is heakthy that we debate how we want it to look before we reach that point.
I'm well aware that I am a hypocrite as I am a tourist at every opportunity both locally and overseas - but in my defence I do tend to spend a shit load (not just on cheap beer).
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@dogmeat said in NZ Politics:
@mariner4life Labour wants fewer tourists spending more.
It's a relatively popular position given the number of stories of tourists (literally) shitting up the place. Plus, of course, the NZ road toll would be zero if it wasn't for dopey Asian's who don't know how to drive.
Ignores the fact that a backpacker here for 6 months spending $100/day brings in almost 3x the revenue of a yank who is here for a week and spends a grand a day.
I think achieving the Holy Grail of fewer tourists spending a shit load more and not over stretching our resources and infrastructure would be great, but can't see it happening. Plus as has been vividly demonstrated we need all those feelthy johnny foreigners to fill all the vacancies that Kiwi's are 'too good' to take.
Upvote for the casual yet ruthless racism.
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@mariner4life said in NZ Politics:
"yeah mate we have a locals discount, it's 50%" that'll go down a fucking treat on the world market.
I actually don't mind this... and it wouldn't go down that poorly. I've seen it all around the world.
To be fair - normally in "not quite first world" countries, but...
All around South America, it was common to have one price for "locals", another for "semi-locals" (normally a subset of SA countries or the entire continent), and another for "filthy foreigners".(To be fair - that was usually for "historic" and "cultural" stuff... where there's easy justification for making "local history/culture available to locals"... probably not so easy to justify when you're selling jet-boat rides and bungy-jumps.)
I remember going to a "pro wrestling" thing in Bolivia - where the prices for foreigners were about 100x that for locals. But that was an extreme, and they had a sweet notice up explaining WHY... effectively "you're subsidising what is a cultural event, and without you paying for the expensive "foreigner" seats - we simply couldn't afford to run this at all, and it would disappear.
And they tried to make it worth it - the foreigners were all sat in a little section up the front - and at one point one of the "baddies" threw his opponent right into the section... sent about a dozen little japanese tourists flying - fucking funny.Anyway - fuck the tourists. The only thing they're good for is to keep the tourism companies ticking over until I get off my arse and want to go do something myself - at which time they should all fuck off, and leave it nice and quiet for me to enjoy in peace.
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@Kruse said in NZ Politics:
Anyway - fuck the tourists. The only thing they're good for is to keep the tourism companies ticking over until I get off my arse and want to go do something myself - at which time they should all fuck off, and leave it nice and quiet for me to enjoy in peace.
this is the most pertinent thing written on this thus far
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@Kruse said in NZ Politics:
All around South America, it was common to have one price for "locals", another for "semi-locals" (normally a subset of SA countries or the entire continent), and another for "filthy foreigners".
Not just South America. I don't mind paying extra coz normally the inflated price is still cheap as. Same as my hearts not really into bartering any more - I mean i do it but in a half hearted manner Can't be arsed spending 15 minutes arguing over a couple of bucks
but NZ is different as nothing is cheap.
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@dogmeat said in NZ Politics:
@MN5 I figured the sarcasm was obvious.
Next time I'll use an emoji
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@broughie said in NZ Politics:
@MN5 Asians can drive. Just different. An lot of horn honking and trying to find spaces that don’t exist. Just don’t drive to Vegas expecting the passing lane to be free of slow moving Asians.
Good example in Shanghai - Five lanes painted on the road. Seven lanes of traffic. No rhyme or reason to the traffic rules as implemented other than use your horn. Only saw one accident.
India on the other hand. Best piece of advice I got from an Indian cab driver.
You need three things to drive in India:
- Good horn.
- Good brakes.
- Good luck.
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@antipodean exactly. Functional chaos.
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@antipodean said in NZ Politics:
@broughie said in NZ Politics:
@MN5 Asians can drive. Just different. An lot of horn honking and trying to find spaces that don’t exist. Just don’t drive to Vegas expecting the passing lane to be free of slow moving Asians.
Good example in Shanghai - Five lanes painted on the road. Seven lanes of traffic. No rhyme or reason to the traffic rules as implemented other than use your horn. Only saw one accident.
India on the other hand. Best piece of advice I got from an Indian cab driver.
You need three things to drive in India:
- Good horn.
- Good brakes.
- Good luck.
Yeah - after a fair bit of time in China, and some time travelling through SE Asia, I came to the conclusion "yeah - it's different to how we do it, but... it works."
But then - went riding for a weekend in India, and in Nepal for a couple of weeks.
And yeah - the "functional chaos" theory works in the cities... with maybe the cost of a few dents and what-not. On open-roads... it's fucking fatal. On a single weekend in India, I rode out of town one day, back the next - and saw a crashed bus that hadn't been there on the way out... can't imagine too many people enjoyed that. In Nepal... much worse. Saw a truck-head-on-with-bus accident that had occurred within the last couple of hours, several buses which had obviously been driven off the road within the last couple of days, etc, etc.
Fuck that.And... the enforcement of rules when there IS an accident. I never saw the application in the serious open-road accidents... I'm guesing the cops don't fuck around then.
But I spent 6 months living in a small Chinese city (just under 2 million), with a primetime view of a relatively busy intersection. Not a major street - so no constant traffic-police presence... but pretty heavy throughflow during rush-hour. And EVERY day, I could/would just sit up there and watch a traffic jam form, and then the drivers get out and argue about how to deal with it.
A crowd would form, the drivers would make their cases... and "mob-rule" would truly prevail. If a copper arrived, he would stand back and wait to see what the crowd feeling was, and then step forward and say the same.
Only very occasionally did I see somebody so adamant that they pretended to adhere to the suggested course, wait for the mob to dissipate, and then get back out again to have another go.
Hours of entertainment. -
@antipodean said in NZ Politics:
@broughie said in NZ Politics:
@MN5 Asians can drive. Just different. An lot of horn honking and trying to find spaces that don’t exist. Just don’t drive to Vegas expecting the passing lane to be free of slow moving Asians.
Good example in Shanghai - Five lanes painted on the road. Seven lanes of traffic. No rhyme or reason to the traffic rules as implemented other than use your horn. Only saw one accident.
India on the other hand. Best piece of advice I got from an Indian cab driver.
You need three things to drive in India:
- Good horn.
- Good brakes.
- Good luck.
I remember riding thru a giant square intersection in China. Cars everywhere, beeping so everyone knows where everyone is. No room for aggression, they just listen for the beeps and everyone gets through with few accidents
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I see the proposed changes to the ETS is putting pressure on Golden Bay Cement, that may end up shutting, despite imported concrete not being subject to the same standards!
Love this government and their hypocrisy!
Unfortunately is a premium article...
Millions spent investing in ways to become more sustainable too....
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Interesting comment from Rod Carr, which betrays an increasingly common sentiment among western greens that eating protein is bad. I hope they like diabetes, because that's what a western/chinese/non-poverty diet with less protein with exacerbate.
"We're not feeding the world. Our milk and meat protein provides the daily requirement for about 40 million people out of [a world population of] 8 billion. We are feeding relatively affluent people, who are consuming protein well above the daily allowance. From the developing world's point of view, we are not feeding the hungry poor.
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@Kruse said in NZ Politics:
Only very occasionally did I see somebody so adamant that they pretended to adhere to the suggested course, wait for the mob to dissipate, and then get back out again to have another go.
Hours of entertainment.Imagine the fun if the Chinese implemented this road scheme here in Devon.....
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