Comments on: Not All CA HSR Advocates Are Happy With Stimulus Decisions

By: jimsf

jimsf — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:02:50 +0000

andy-Here in LA we have busses upon busses of tourists during the summer. The Europeans and Japanese love us for some ungodly reason

(all true but remember, they love us up here just a teensy bit better ;-P

By: AndyDuncan

AndyDuncan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:32:16 +0000

Congratulations, your comment manages to offend Californians and Mexicans.

Seriously Alon, I love you buddy, but CA has a ginormous tourism industry that is world-famous. The rest of the country might bitch about us Californicators, but y’all come here on vacation in droves.

Here in LA we have busses upon busses of tourists during the summer. The Europeans and Japanese love us for some ungodly reason.

But if you don’t think a $100b industry is a big industry, or if you somehow think some of those dollars are worth less because they’re spent by mexicans, I can’t really help you.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:17:31 +0000

How much of California’s tourism is Mexicans driving over the border for upscale shopping that can’t be done in Tijuana?

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:16:26 +0000

Macau built casinos at the height of the real estate bubble, in an economy with 10% real growth.

By: jimsf

jimsf — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:45:51 +0000

Well if we can figure out how to get lots of their dollars on the train before they reach the border that would be good. and I remain adamant about a stop at barstow. even if its one in each direction per day. and Id prefer that if the train goes to vegas, that it be part of the ca hsr system and not a separate system. In these difficult times, we can not afford to be giving anything to nevada that we can keep for ourselves. The train would also most likely, per the insistence of nevada, stop at primm as well.

By: AndyDuncan

AndyDuncan — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:26:58 +0000

Nevada’s tourism industry is a much larger percentage of their economy than California’s, but California’s is still bigger by raw dollars ($100b vs around $30b, from what I can find, likely both are far less for 2009).

Indian Casinos are around $5b in CA, though I can’t find how much of that is tourism dollars and how much is Californian’s going to the casinos. I’m guessing it’s mostly the latter.

Nevada needs HSR to California much more than California needs HSR to Nevada, but the line will benefit everyone.

Las Vegas – SF/Oak/Fremont and Las Vegas – Los Angeles/LGB/Santa Ana are two of the top-20 city pairs for flights (2.6m and 3.7m respectively), and that doesn’t count San Jose/Santa Clara – LV, San Diego -LV or Sacramento/Central Valley- LV. Plus the millions of car trips each year.

There’s plenty of demand for a line connecting at mojave, and likely enough future demand to justify the cajon pass route as well. The fact that all you have to do is drag the line from Mojave to Vegas and build one station in vegas makes the whole thing a good idea.

By: synonymouse

synonymouse — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:22:31 +0000

Macau has. Even Sin City. Still building Indian casinos in Lake County, etc.

By: jimsf

jimsf — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:48:24 +0000

No, cali has a far more robust tourism industry than nevada. far far far more robust. Vegas is an afterthought for most of them. they go there if they have “extra time” I know. I talk to them everyday. Im always picking the brains of international tourists to get the real story from the horses mouth ( trains, healthcare, etc)

36 million international and domestic vegas visitors annually compared to 351 million domestic and international california visitors annually.

Of the ones I see, the comments are almost unanimous. 100 precent love yosemite, They all think SF is the best place. They all say the same thing about LA, its ok but they didnt really care for it, and they are slpit 50 50 on vegas, mostly there just go there to look because its a spectacle.

The other place they want to go – and its hard to get them there, is Sequoia National Park. who knew?

By: Joey

Joey — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:48:47 +0000

Building casinos? In this economy?

By: synonymouse

synonymouse — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:46:53 +0000

Everyone is building casinos. What do you think will happen to the Vegas international high roller market when Hawaii has casino resorts?

Forget Sin City – ditto Palmdale – San Diego and Sacramento are much more important destinations.