Tourist information

[daveklepper]

Received this email from a friend who is professionally involved in rail passenger transportation:

Hi,
 
The status of the Ontario Northland is unclear. They indicated they will stop all passenger service to Toronto, but did not give a date. In the meantime, the towns along the route are banding together to put pressure on the premier to keep it going, and to bring in professional managers to run it "properly", for freight and passenger service. From what I have heard from friends who recently went to Cochrane and Moosonee, the "Polar Bear Express" now runs mainly for the Native Peoples, with relatively few tourists.  You and I remember long trains, and many bus loads on the train, but those days are gone; both ONR and the Algoma Central have lost most of their tourist trade since 9/11 for many reasons. Tour groups are now rare, as they must make it clear that only those with passports or enhanced drivers licences can go along, and since only around 28% of Americans have passports, it is a restricted market (Windsor, and the Caesar's Casino here have also lost more than half of their tourist business since the passport rule came into effect in the U.S.). And the days of the 65 cent Canadian dollar are long gone, too, with the Canadian dollar now sometimes even higher than the US dollar - there is no way I could run trips in Canada today, particularly on the "Canadian" given the extremely high prices I would have to charge - indeed, I look at the sky high prices, even for "basic coach" fares on the "Rocky Mountaineer" and realize that those "glory" days are long gone. Someone of course is riding the "Canadian" and "Rocky Mountaineer", but I do not know if it is Americans (perhaps the 1%), or Japanese, or Europeans, to whom the dollar is very cheap. I just do not know, but what I do know is that most of the people on the mailing lists I used for my trips could not afford what would be necessary today. (To give a very brief example of how high European costs are, and how low our prices must seem to them, in 2011 Martha and I arrived after a Rhine River Cruise at a suburban Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in a suburb of Zurich - not even near the downtown - and thought we might have the breakfast brunch, until we realized that it would cost us over $40 each - we do not usually have $80 breakfasts, so we went elsewhere, to a nearby Starbucks, where two pastries and two coffees came to around $20!! And just before flying home on Delta (with free frequent flyer tickets, so at least some bargains still exist) we had a little breakfast snack at the coffee bar in the concourse where our gate was, and I was astounded that just two orange juices, two small croissants and two coffees came to over US$30!! Now for people in Switzerland (and the rest of Europe is not that much cheaper, except for Eastern Europe), they must find prices on the "Canadian" to be cheap, but that would not be the case for my market if ___ Train Tours was still putting together trips across Canada.

 

I thought this to be of interest to readers of this Forum.

[schlimm]

Interesting.  And Switzerland is pricey.  But far better to stay at a non-American hotel.  In Germany, you can usually find a good place for two, including a great breakfast buffet for $100-150.

 

[daveklepper]

Ditto Israel in the off-sseason, or even during the season with a group.