I can't believe I am jumping back into this again ... but ...

I'd like to meet the "discerning" visitor who has no problem with constant power outages, frequent and severe water shortages, torn up, pot-holed, badly engineered and mostly unlit roads with few road signs, questionable food establishments (certainly not all but a large majority), over flowing dumpsters all over the place, trash strewn everywhere, and sub-par (disinterested) service at many establishments, shops and indeed in government.

Don't you think it is putting the cart before the horse to build an airport runway that can accommodate Boeing 737-800's and airbus A320's when the above will take a minimum of 20 years to sort out, if they start today ... and don't stop for anything. Let's be realistic here.

Our visitor market is people who really don't mind all those things as well as upwardly mobile and well-to-do sailors who don't have to deal with much of it for any length of time while aboard their yacht.

The Boeing 737-800 carries 154 passengers with three classes of seating. Only 16 are first class, 48 are "economy plus" and 90 are economy.

The A-320 seats 150 passengers or up to 189 in a high-density configuration. There are 10 first class seats in one configuration of the airbus A-320 and 16 in the other.

So exactly how many "discerning" visitors will be coming here on these flights, assuming there would be one flight maybe every other day of either type ... and how often? That is a [color:"red"]huge[/color] assumption by the way, since there is no deal with any airline at this point.

I have close friends who own a couple of apartments on the privately owned cruise ship called "The World". They come here (on The World) about once a year ... and I usually have to go to Jost Van Dyke to see them. The also have a home in Bermuda, a home in London and a cottage in Northern Ontario.

They wouldn't dream of coming here for a vacation. In fact, when the World was in Road Town several years ago, I had to beg them to come to my place. He stayed on the ship while she came with me. He wasn't even interested in getting off the darned boat! I had to go to the ship for lunch, even though I had made plans to make lunch at my place for them.

My own family considers it a chore to come here to visit because the BVI just isn't up to their standards. They were horrified by the smell of the Sargassum the last time they were here and couldn't believe it was just left sitting along the shoreline to rot. There is still no plan to deal with the sargassum.

My niece was walking with her 3 year old along the road on Frenchman's Cay coming back from having coffee at Omar's and some guy was peeing on a tree at the side of the road and didn't even bother to try to hide. She was totally disgusted. Where she comes from, people are arrested for indecent exposure for doing things like that. Here it is an every day occurrence.

A couple of months ago, they sent me a ticket to Toronto so I can go visit them and we will all go up to our mutual friend's cottage on Bone Island in Georgian Bay ... the one's who own the apartments on the World. It was their subtle way of telling me they won't be coming down next year.

So if the intent is to attract the "discerning" visitors (in any substantive way), I can tell you quite honestly that the BVI has a very long way to go before that dream becomes a reality.

Oh and by the way, my family didn't mind the flights from Toronto to St. Maarten and St. Maarten to Tortola. They much prefer St. Maarten and stayed there for 5 days after they visited me. They are always trying to talk me into going to St. Maarten for a vacation with them. For me, getting out of the Caribbean is a vacation!

I agree with Will's Ground Hog Day analogy. Sometimes we repeat ourselves (over and over again) because we feel our need to be heard has not been satisfied. I feel my need to be heard has been met and have nothing further to add to the conversation ... unless of course the conversation takes an incredibly interesting turn. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />