advertisement
If there is a problem with the government's attitude, it could harm taxpayers. It's an ugly attitude that tourists are a nuisance and cost money. Elected officials often say things like that.
What happens when a burgeoning financial industry pumping money into our economy fills up offices that should be left to other companies and complains that new entrants are driving up home prices and the cost of living? What would happen if I posted a sign that said “Hmm?”
We weren't stupid enough to do that for the sake of a shiny new industry, but for decades some officials have treated paying guests that way. We love their money, but we resent their existence.
That's why Miami Beach officials are seriously discussing suspending hotel room occupancy. And that's why county commissioners last week led a successful campaign to not spend taxes on airport-to-port transportation because tourists would be the main beneficiaries.
I'm not making any of that up. Both are very real, and their prejudices outweigh their sanity.
When County Commissioner Daniel Cohen-Higgins asked the Transportation Planning Authority last week to vote simply to “study the feasibility of implementing direct transportation service connecting Miami International Airport and PortMiami,” Irene – Mayor Higgins led an effort to study the case only if tax dollars were not invested. She joined because she didn't want to spend money on tourists.
“As you know, our job today is to move workers and residents, especially low-income people, to work, to school, to health centers… It’s also important to get selected passengers off the road. ,” she told the organization’s board meeting. Since I have a car, traffic may be a little less. So there's a big problem with using public money to basically move tourists from one place to another. Especially when they're not spending money in our county, yep, landing at the airport and going to the cruise ship.
Still, Higgins said the trains between the ports would pass through some of Miami's most populous areas. Every day he sees at least 40,000 workers (mostly county residents) entering the country, and there was no hint that transportation would not stop between the two economic engines. If they take transit to work, they get out of the car. So will other county residents, which will reduce traffic downtown.
Who would overlook the value of connectivity in a region that has been told for years that it would be easy to add significant transportation links to ports?
You can't miss it, only if tourists are concerned about making a profit. This is similar to Miami Beach, where officials have opposed transit links to Miami for years because they didn't want “those people” coming to their city. You can fill in the ethnic groups they intended but didn't name.
A vote to consider transportation between the airport and the port ultimately passed, but it was only after changes were made that it was confirmed that either the airport or the port would have to pay for it from its own funds. . The finance committee cannot be touched. “Otherwise, without that amendment, I would have to vote against this item,” Commissioner Higgins said.
Higgins had called on the port to “build its own transportation system.” But she didn't say that later in the meeting, when she promoted another long-standing need: a very logical plan for transportation between Florida International University in West Dade and downtown.
She didn't tell FIU to “build our own transit” because she knows that transit is available to the thousands of people who drive from east to west every day. But they are not tourists.
So why is tourism a bad word?
That's because Miami-Dade's 146,100 workers make up 1 in 9 of the workforce, and most of them can pay taxes and vote for commissioners here.
It can't be because last year's visitors brought $20.2 billion to the county's economy. That money helps pay far more bills than those on the tourism industry payroll. These revenues fuel local businesses.
Imagine Miami-Dade's vibrant economy without visitor spinoff funds.
Indeed, tourism wasn't exactly a bad word when counties and cities totaled well over $340 million in seven sales and resort taxes paid by visitors last fiscal year. These include $43.9 million in homelessness taxes that would be paid by the rest of the population if visitors did not, and $23.8 million for professional sports that residents also enjoy.
Indeed, the number of visitors is really high: 26.7 million last year. But if they feel we don't want them, the millions of people who fly to airports and board cruise ships could use other ports. If we don't welcome people, others will.
Everyone in Florida wants visitors. They respond to them. Visiting becomes easy.
On the other hand, we argue that millions of people are taking taxis and Ubers in Miami's most congested areas to get to and from their ships because the journey isn't worth it. Instead, just keep congesting downtown streets.
Perhaps that short-sightedness is due to the fact that so few elected representatives are from the visiting industry.
Or maybe it's because the Greater Miami Tourism Authority has been less visible in educating Miamians about the value of tourism. The department recognized that tourism was unfairly stigmatized and was promoting why tourists mean money to all of us.
However, old messages can be forgotten. A refresher course on what visitors mean to us all is overdue in government.
