I’m currently on a cruise sailing with Holland America cruise line, for 10-nights I’m sailing from New York City to Quebec City. So far we’ve already hit Boston, Massachusetts and Bar Harbor, Maine. The government shutdown had historical sites in both ports of call shutdown. Pretty sad considering how historical and beautiful both these ports are.
Boston
I’ve been to Boston a few times so I was going to check out the JFK Library. When I walked up to the door there was a sign that said because of the government shutdown that everything has been suspended. I wasn’t the only person that it affected. There was a group of French tourists that were there when I was and weren’t to happy about it being shutdown. I can’t blame them, they came a long way.
Bar Harbor (photo above)
This place is really getting hammered by the government shutdown. Acadia National Forest in Bar Harbor is one of their main tourist attractions. They said that only 800,000 government workers are affected by the the shutdown, that number couldn’t be anymore false. I had a chance to talk to some local business owners and get their thoughts on the shutdown. A local owner of an internet cafe told me, “all these seats would be occupied by campers, cruise passengers and vacationers who want to hop online while visiting Acardia National Forest, but right now they’re empty. I’ve owned this business, and have for years, I don’t have anything to fall back on. This past week has been one of our worst weeks in years.”
What I didn’t realize is there are park rangers that are still working there to make sure the animals get taken care of, people don’t get lost and offering assistance — for free! Very noble of them.
There was also a petition going around town to open Acadia back up, not sure how much that will help.
My thoughts
I’m not a political person but it kills me to see destinations hurting because of the shutdown. For instance, cruise ships are turning away from Bar Harbor because cruise passengers aren’t interested in going there since Acadia National Forest is closed down. Boston can hold its own but a lot of people who depend on these parks to put food on their tables for the families are always being screwed over.
I was eating in the West End Cafe yesterday and was talking to some non-cruise passengers who came up in their RV from the midwest and they arrived earlier this week just to find a place they traveled 1,500 miles for closed.
What are your thoughts on how the government shutdown is effecting tourism?
