The disconnect
The disconnect between the tourism industry and the local environment is wider than I thought. I took a family fishing on Saturday that arrived on the shore of a pond fifteen miles from the salt water telling me that they were there for a morning of mackerel fishing. The reservation had been made for them by the hotel which was their only source of information. Clearly we have to get better at providing information to not only the public but also the professionals in the business.
Some of you will not know that mackerel are a salt water fish that spend their summers in our coastal harbors but never are seen in fresh water. The thing that I don’t know for a fact is weather the family did not listen or was given the wrong information in the first place. They were also the first folks that I had complain about the price of one day fishing licenses so clearly the information that I had in my brochure did not reach them.
It is also interesting to note that the hurricane in the gulf has dropped not only phone calls about fishing trips but internet traffic to my web site as well. I assume that with all of the scenes of rough water and angry seas people are less interested in going on the water anywhere.
