Seeing as I`m not in PEI to check it out for myself...has anyone been to Cavendish area lately? I'm wondering if the crowds have started yet...I hope not too many people stay away from PEI because Toronto has SARS, but that seems to be happening a bit. It's bad enough that the province will lose money because of mad cow disease, but losing money to SARS when it isn't even around is ridiculous.

I hope they all stay far away from the Island. Personally I'd like it if you aren't an Island Resident, or if theres a possible chance you may have the Disease you aren't allowed on the island. I dunno... it sounds very extreme, but.. our Island is our Island, I don't want people coming here and fucking it up.

I'm not sure how many islanders share my opinion though...

According to our tourist industry, there hasn't been a significant drop in visitors to the island due to recent events. We are, after all, very isolated from the rest of Canada, literally speaking. I can't personally say how crowded things are out there, because I never leave the house ;)

And Noel, if there's a possible chance someone has SARS, they're not just kept off the island, they're completely quarantined. I don't think we have any cause for concern.

Atomsk...you should be an American, because that's what that post made you sound like. (Stay outta my backyard!) SARS isn't nearly as big a deal as the media makes it out to be, and we need tourists in PEI to make money. You may not run a golf course or a hotel, but the taxes of those who do, and the things those people buy in PEI pay for our hospitals, roads, school, etc. If not for tourism, we'd all be poor as dirt, or living somewhere else like Newfoundlanders...I hope they have a good tourist season, because it will make up for money losses in other things, like agriculture. This will be bad year for agriculture, with the late planting and the mad cow fallout...also a big deal over nothing...read a paper man...

Actually, if I can make a point of the recent trend of stores putting prices up, just before the tourist season begins (ex, Subway and BK that I know of). I think in some ways we're hurting by living on the island when a lot of businesses strive off the tourists, and inhabitants of the island get treated as such as well.

Not to mention that they come over here in their rv's and vans and run all over our roads all summer, driving here and there and everywhere. If anything, our taxes are paying for nice new roads for the tourists :S

But then again, I also like to just post illogical things that I've done no real research on (everyone needs an opinion :P)

The Island's economy revolves around tourism. Without it, there would be even less here than there already is. Now that is a scary thought.

Although on the plus side, we'd probably have less franchises.

We have one of the lowest minimum wages in canada because the low "cost of living", but super high prices because of tourism and lack of competition.... what kind of economy is that? Everyone suffers in the end I tells ya.

What I hate, is while tourists are coming to Summerside for our quaint, down to earth style, our City Hall is busy trying to make us as big and powerful as Charlottetown. Block off the harbor to "revitalize" the downtown... oh while we're at it we might as well get rid of the useless two lane road, no need for it. Let's build more parking, no one wants to parallel park when they go to the banks on Water Street. There's too many people leaving their cars running while they run to the Waterfront Mall to get some booze.

Anways... the papers were reporting that we would lose some of our Asian visitors due to SARS, but I don't think that will be the case.

And yeah Ryan, that mad cow disease thing was so blown out of proportion. It's too bad they couldn't have just kept that one cow out of the media. What the United States doesn't know can't hurt the rest of the worlds economy.

I agree with Joey though... I think its mostly that they're taking those tax dollars, and making stuff that the Tourists would like.

Like... They're taking a big chunk of money for sure and building another Board walk, or converting the entire front end into a board walk. I know Joey was talking about it, and I've heard the same from several other people.

How many people in summerside even use the boardwalk? Other then for Canada Day? I'm sure the number is only about 100 a week. I know.. there are afew upsides to the new boardwalk but.. Don't you think its mostly for the tourists?

Yea, and a thing Joey was talking about, they come here with they're RV's and all. Haven't you noticed the roads are ALOT more congested in the summertime? Not to mention alot more stupid stunts off islanders do? I'm pretty sure anyone who's walked across the roads down town in the summertime will know what I mean.

Seeing people not understand the traffic signs or something. Stupid Drivers like the one Rob met into "I thought I could make it..." and such.

Naw, I'm not an American :D, I support Tourist for the island... I just don't want the stupid people coming.

"Come Play on our Island! Must have an IQ over 20."

I think you're overestimating the average Islander intelligence, Noel. We have some of the worst drivers in Atlantic Canada, and take this from a guy who's sole method of transportation is two feet. I've been nearly hit countless times year round. Then again, in Halifax, I can literally walk out into traffic and both lanes will immediately stop. I almost got hit by a school bus at the cross walk outside my house a few months ago. A school bus that was about half a kilometer up the road when I started crossing.

But anyway, back on topic. I don't think we're realizing how little the Island has to offer to an economic situation. Think about it, what are our exports? Well, potatoes, fish, and related products. We have no large scale manufacturing plants, except to process either of those things. That makes our overall exporting power low. In the mean time, think of all the products it's necessary for us to import, just about everything except french fries. The idea in a balanced economy is that your imports equal your exports. This is nowhere near the case with what I've outlined, so how do we cover the deficit? We 'export', per say, our Tourism.

Besides not wallowing in debt, there aren't many more advantages to being a tourist town. Believe me, I don't like tourists any more than you do, nor do I like how our city is shaped around them. But its how our tiny little economy survives. Without the business generated by tourism, we wouldn't have enough resources to support ourselves. That results in an unpleasant QOL for locals a few months a year (then again, like winter is much more pleasant), but as they say, thems the breaks. If you don't like it, unfortunately your options are limited to putting up with it or moving away.