The persons not identified standing with Adam Gibson are Becca Stanley, FOA Recreation Technician Coordinator, and Ella Skolfield, Recreation Technician, on the right. They play a very important role in managing the crush of visitors.
We attempted to drive through the Park that week-end. Even entering from Schooner Head, the drive was looong and slooow. The feeling you get along Ocean Drive nowadays is, "by the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong..." By the time we got to the Fabbri Memorial, it was enough. After that we stuck to the backside of the Island. Makes me feel bad for all the people who drove from the West Coast and Southwest (judging by their license plates). All of the parks are overwhelmed. We are loving them to death.
I think we'll see Acadia go to an all reservation system for POVs and more use of buses in the next 10 years. I took some visiting friends up Cadillac in 2022 and the reservation system made it a much nicer experience than I had had for a long time.
The park understand that steps need to be taken to manage growth. Growth can not continue unlimited and eventually needs mitigation if we expect a quality experience. Contrast this with the Pro-cruise businesses that cast anyone as anti-tourist or anti-business if they suggest such limits on cruise visitors.
While an unregulated flood or unrestricted traffic may seem like a great idea for businesses, it will likely lead to declining revenues in the long term, as people start to avoid areas that provide a congested and "bad" experience. As with everything, long term success is a result of long term planning and taking actions to provide a quality product. Even large companies and premier destinations that many thought "could never fail" have declined and in some cases all but disappeared when they do not focus on the quality of their products and user experience.
Anyone looking at online forums can see the complaints about over tourism in Bar Harbor and in Acadia. The Park services are taking steps to protect the experience - what are the businesses and the town doing to protect the experience for tourists and residents of Bar Harbor? The current path is on track for a continued decline - which will eventually impact the bottom line. Just as fishermen found the oceans do not have infinite fish, there are limits to capacity - and once you cross a certain threshold, the decline can be sudden and all but irreversible, when hotels are overbuilt and end up fighting for a declining vacancy rate, businesses close due to over expansion of similar "chain stores" and a decline in visitors, and even cruise ships avoid the town, as the visitors decide it is no longer a premier destination. When you don't protect a special place in this world, it often gets ruined and then discarded for the next "hot" vacation spot.
The persons not identified standing with Adam Gibson are Becca Stanley, FOA Recreation Technician Coordinator, and Ella Skolfield, Recreation Technician, on the right. They play a very important role in managing the crush of visitors.
Thanks, Jim! We took that directly from FOA, including the caption. I appreciated the identifications!
We attempted to drive through the Park that week-end. Even entering from Schooner Head, the drive was looong and slooow. The feeling you get along Ocean Drive nowadays is, "by the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong..." By the time we got to the Fabbri Memorial, it was enough. After that we stuck to the backside of the Island. Makes me feel bad for all the people who drove from the West Coast and Southwest (judging by their license plates). All of the parks are overwhelmed. We are loving them to death.
I think we'll see Acadia go to an all reservation system for POVs and more use of buses in the next 10 years. I took some visiting friends up Cadillac in 2022 and the reservation system made it a much nicer experience than I had had for a long time.
Still not enough tourists are coming according to some of the greedy folks in town
The park understand that steps need to be taken to manage growth. Growth can not continue unlimited and eventually needs mitigation if we expect a quality experience. Contrast this with the Pro-cruise businesses that cast anyone as anti-tourist or anti-business if they suggest such limits on cruise visitors.
While an unregulated flood or unrestricted traffic may seem like a great idea for businesses, it will likely lead to declining revenues in the long term, as people start to avoid areas that provide a congested and "bad" experience. As with everything, long term success is a result of long term planning and taking actions to provide a quality product. Even large companies and premier destinations that many thought "could never fail" have declined and in some cases all but disappeared when they do not focus on the quality of their products and user experience.
Anyone looking at online forums can see the complaints about over tourism in Bar Harbor and in Acadia. The Park services are taking steps to protect the experience - what are the businesses and the town doing to protect the experience for tourists and residents of Bar Harbor? The current path is on track for a continued decline - which will eventually impact the bottom line. Just as fishermen found the oceans do not have infinite fish, there are limits to capacity - and once you cross a certain threshold, the decline can be sudden and all but irreversible, when hotels are overbuilt and end up fighting for a declining vacancy rate, businesses close due to over expansion of similar "chain stores" and a decline in visitors, and even cruise ships avoid the town, as the visitors decide it is no longer a premier destination. When you don't protect a special place in this world, it often gets ruined and then discarded for the next "hot" vacation spot.