Housing Bubble

[flyguy]

I know about the "investment"...scratch that...malinvestment aspects of airlines; I was interested in your view as to what such mergers will do for the area airports.


.

I don't think mergers will make any difference to the Panhandle airports. You will still see service to all the major hubs (Atlanta, DFW, etc.) in this part of the country from PCB. I suppose there is a chance of a slight decrease to certain hub cities as the new airline consolidates its schedule. But the overall seats available out of PCB should remain relatively constant after a merger.

All airline service is driven by passenger demand.

Reality: If you buy the ticket they will come.
Dream: If you build it they will come.

JMHO,
Flyguy

 

[Chickpea]

My sister is getting married this year here and I cannot tell you all what a ROYAL pain in the butt it has been for our relatives coming from overseas to get here..... the new airport (unless they start having direct flights and there is NO way I see that happening!) - we are still years and years away from the seeing the europeans coming here - Orlando and Miami are just so much more convenient, infintely cheaper and to some have much more to offer.....

 

[Mango]

I can't see how Europeans won't be tempted to take 3 different connecting flights and travel 12-15 hrs to get to THE BEACH.

 

[SHELLY]

My sister is getting married this year here and I cannot tell you all what a ROYAL pain in the butt it has been for our relatives coming from overseas to get here..... the new airport (unless they start having direct flights and there is NO way I see that happening!) - we are still years and years away from the seeing the europeans coming here - Orlando and Miami are just so much more convenient, infintely cheaper and to some have much more to offer.....

Absolutely.

Most of my overseas acquaintances are of the British and Dutch persuasion. If I could draw a map of the USA from the viewpoint of the citizens of most European countries it would look like this:

The entire N.E. of the USA would be NY City; to the south would be the peninsula of Florida divided into 2 "states" Disneyworld and Miami; a big blob in the mid-west would be labeled Texas (no cities/states, only a picture of a cowboy, Indian and longhorned steer); to the west of Texas would be the "state" of Las Vegas (they would not be able to name the state LV is in); and the west coast would be California divided into Hollywood, LA and San Francisco. (If this sounds far-fetched, have your "average" American draw a map of Britain and pinpoint the following: London, Bath, Scotland, Wales, Cambridge, Devon, Oxford, Plymouth)

When you speak to Europeans in general (believe it or not, the overwhelming majority of them couldn't afford to come to the USA on their holidays--although most of them would want to) they are only interested in hearing about the travels of their colleagues going to "the USA" (the one I pictured above); and as such, most of their travels to the USA will include those locations.

The affluent Europeans are more apt (and financially able) to travel to other areas of the US, but I doubt SoWal will be able to attract these folks in numbers that will make a great deal of difference.

A few of my European friends have come here, and enjoyed the beaches very much, but they're not interested in coming again and again--they enjoy going to different places and seeing different things (our beach is nice, but it is not the end-all and be-all of beaches in other areas of the world available to folks with high net worth). A less well-capitalized friend from England asked to come and crash at my place and make "day-trips" to Disneyworld (afterall I do live in Florida); once he found out how far it was--he just did an inexpensive trip to DisneyWorld.

.

 

[robertsondavies]

Shelly, you've rightfully guarded your interest in the longer term investment horizon, I think the biggest danger in your analysis is that you've underestimated the power of the internet to disseminate information... for instance, you think that SoWal is a great place to live, either actually or in some sort of sick cyber-freudian sense.... You're bang on about your figurative map of the USA, but that's all rear view mirror stuff Shel... that's whats priced in currently, when people from Europe made decisions in the 80's and 90's on what to buy based on what friends and family did, and based on TV shows like Miami Vice....

Shel, its time to get long some SoWal babe cakes - or else be left in the dust as a two bit trader that made a prescient and psychotically emphatic trading call on a chat board... the internet is now your enemy, information flow your nemisis....

keeping SoWal a secret for the next 20 years will make wak-a-mole look tame.

Absolutely.

Most of my overseas acquaintances are of the British and Dutch persuasion. If I could draw a map of the USA from the viewpoint of the citizens of most European countries it would look like this:

The entire N.E. of the USA would be NY City; to the south would be the peninsula of Florida divided into 2 "states" Disneyworld and Miami; a big blob in the mid-west would be labeled Texas (no cities/states, only a picture of a cowboy, Indian and longhorned steer); to the west of Texas would be the "state" of Las Vegas (they would not be able to name the state LV is in); and the west coast would be California divided into Hollywood, LA and San Francisco. (If this sounds far-fetched, have your "average" American draw a map of Britain and pinpoint the following: London, Bath, Scotland, Wales, Cambridge, Devon, Oxford, Plymouth)

When you speak to Europeans in general (believe it or not, the overwhelming majority of them couldn't afford to come to the USA on their holidays--although most of them would want to) they are only interested in hearing about the travels of their colleagues going to "the USA" (the one I pictured above); and as such, most of their travels to the USA will include those locations.

The affluent Europeans are more apt (and financially able) to travel to other areas of the US, but I doubt SoWal will be able to attract these folks in numbers that will make a great deal of difference.

A few of my European friends have come here, and enjoyed the beaches very much, but they're not interested in coming again and again--they enjoy going to different places and seeing different things (our beach is nice, but it is not the end-all and be-all of beaches in other areas of the world available to folks with high net worth). A less well-capitalized friend from England asked to come and crash at my place and make "day-trips" to Disneyworld (afterall I do live in Florida); once he found out how far it was--he just did an inexpensive trip to DisneyWorld.

.

 

[SHELLY]

the internet is now your enemy, information flow your nemisis....

Au contraire....the Internet information flow is the nemesis of the people whose overwhelming main objective is to transfer someone else's wealth into their pocket by any means.

Since that is not my inclination, I deem the Internet, and the information contained therein, a friendly distraction.

/

 

[scooterbug44]

Sowal beaches are gorgeous, but that is seriously the only thing we have to offer as far as competition to other popular European travel destinations.

Yes, the food is good, but not fabulous in comparison, and the lodgings are nice, but not 4 or 5 stars.

theatre?
shopping?
travel time?
nightlife?
transportation?
culture?

Right now we've just got uncrowded white sand and the exchange rate in our favor.

 

[Pirate]

Sowal beaches are gorgeous, but that is seriously the only thing we have to offer as far as competition to other popular European travel destinations.

Yes, the food is good, but not fabulous in comparison, and the lodgings are nice, but not 4 or 5 stars.

theatre?
shopping?
travel time?
nightlife?
transportation?
culture?

Right now we've just got uncrowded white sand and the exchange rate in our favor.

And you might get arrested for setting up a chair on the beach.

 

[elgordoboy]

And you might get arrested for setting up a chair on the beach.

Great idea! What do you think one could charge for that if one set up a tour around it? Would it really draw folks though?

 

[BIGDOG]

Absolutely.

Most of my overseas acquaintances are of the British and Dutch persuasion. If I could draw a map of the USA from the viewpoint of the citizens of most European countries it would look like this:

The entire N.E. of the USA would be NY City; to the south would be the peninsula of Florida divided into 2 "states" Disneyworld and Miami; a big blob in the mid-west would be labeled Texas (no cities/states, only a picture of a cowboy, Indian and longhorned steer); to the west of Texas would be the "state" of Las Vegas (they would not be able to name the state LV is in); and the west coast would be California divided into Hollywood, LA and San Francisco. (If this sounds far-fetched, have your "average" American draw a map of Britain and pinpoint the following: London, Bath, Scotland, Wales, Cambridge, Devon, Oxford, Plymouth)

When you speak to Europeans in general (believe it or not, the overwhelming majority of them couldn't afford to come to the USA on their holidays--although most of them would want to) they are only interested in hearing about the travels of their colleagues going to "the USA" (the one I pictured above); and as such, most of their travels to the USA will include those locations.

The affluent Europeans are more apt (and financially able) to travel to other areas of the US, but I doubt SoWal will be able to attract these folks in numbers that will make a great deal of difference.

A few of my European friends have come here, and enjoyed the beaches very much, but they're not interested in coming again and again--they enjoy going to different places and seeing different things (our beach is nice, but it is not the end-all and be-all of beaches in other areas of the world available to folks with high net worth). A less well-capitalized friend from England asked to come and crash at my place and make "day-trips" to Disneyworld (afterall I do live in Florida); once he found out how far it was--he just did an inexpensive trip to DisneyWorld.

.

Ditto.

Our European visitors who come to this area come to visit us, not the destination. We tend to meetup elsewhere, it's so hard to get here. Plus it's such a sacrifice to waste a U.S. trip to come to the panhandle. Popular holiday spots for our European friends stateside include NYC, LA or Miami. Or for our friends with kids, Disney.