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PakkyT t1_itkzshf wrote

But it is a huge boost to the economy of Salem. Everyone is making a ton and if it was the opposite (no one coming) we would be hearing all the "woo is me" stories from businesses about how without the Halloween crunch they may not make it this year and so on. Just be glad it is just a single month and not, say, all summer like some coastal towns and islands.

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hdjunkie t1_itl98ph wrote

The phrase is “woe is me”

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PakkyT t1_itl9mcx wrote

Sorry, typo there. You are correct. In my head I did pronounce it that way. Just typed it wrong.

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link0612 t1_itlct1n wrote

Yeah, the framing on this (and other tourism related things in the Boston area) is truly absurd. Many communities would sacrifice their firstborns for tourism numbers like Salem's. Heck, Plymouth planned for Plymouth400 for 50 years and wasn't expecting much more visitors than Salem normally gets. Managing the traffic is a tough job, but with the funding they receive they can more than do it.

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AchillesDev t1_itlj8oa wrote

Never lived in a tourist town I take it. Locals can’t stand tourists because, even if many work in service and benefit from tourism, they make day to day life hell during the tourist season, decrease quality of life, increase pollution, etc. Local governments don’t build up infrastructure to accommodate tourists, the only people enriched by it (since local service workers tend to make peanuts and can barely make ends meet) are a few shitty business owners, and tourism is a poor, sporadic source of tax income anyways, the benefits rarely outweigh the costs for the average person.

Source: lived in a Florida beach resort town from middle school until college.

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TheFlabbs t1_itlmme2 wrote

Spot on. I lived in St. Augustine for a while and that place’s tourism is hell. I, a local resident, felt like a tourist attraction as they’d stare at me from the stupid tour trollies. There was just… so much of them… all littering, using up the place like an amusement park, having no regard for anything but themselves. It was honestly horrible. So glad I got out of there

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AchillesDev t1_itmgpqq wrote

Yep, I lived just a little north from there, just off Amelia Island. It has a similar problem to Salem too where there aren't many ways to and from the island itself (just 2 roads, and only one is really used that much).

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TheFlabbs t1_itmjg4a wrote

I think I have legitimate PTSD from being forced to work a retail job in downtown St. Aug during tourist season so that I could afford the obscene rent in the area. It has actually affected my ability to work retail jobs since. It never ends in that city either - you finish the summer weather, they disappear for two months then everyone would come flooding back in for Nights of Lights and shit up the place. Even in those two months, nobody shuts up about it being around the corner so there is never a true break. Even just typing this causes my body to stiffen up with how unbelievably difficult that time was on me, I wouldn’t wish those tourists upon anybody

Obligatory fuck Janice Brown Realty

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saintdanakscully t1_itlr9nr wrote

Yup, I used to work in this Salem tourist crush when I lived there and it was hell ever year with each one only getting worse. My pay didn’t increase for all that work but we served hundreds a day at a small cafe when usually we wouldn’t see half of that.

For those wondering October is not the only time it gets busy like this. I’d wager Halloween Time is from August to beginning of November and then the second warm weather hits, it starts up again.

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seenameangreenbean t1_itmxo16 wrote

Salem is not a nice place to live at all. I think you explained it better than I ever could. I tried in another comment but you did a much better job.

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JaxBratt t1_itlojqh wrote

As a person past and currently living in a more tourist-centric area the problem is that many tourists treat areas as if it’s a resort/amusement park where everybody is there to serve and accommodate them and that their good time on their vacation trumps the daily lives of those actually living and working there, especially those of us who have nothing to do with the service or hospitality industry.

Second, it grows old fighting crowds of leisure lovers when you’re just trying to live your normal grind knowing that while some of those schmucks money is helping your local economy, far too much is flowing right back out to non local investors and corporations. The old trickle down bullshit trying to justify why we should all tolerate being shit on and disrespected by entitled shits on holiday is tired and thin.

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Tuesday_6PM t1_itmt781 wrote

The article points out how it’s actually harmful for a number of businesses. Anything tourist-facing does well, but businesses that cater primarily to residents find that a lot of their customers can’t or won’t make it to them through the traffic and crowds

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[deleted] t1_itl31k6 wrote

You think Salem isn’t a coastal town that experiences summer tourism?

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PakkyT t1_itl92ai wrote

Well not in the crushing way of a Halloween season. Also Salem is not really a "beach town" like others.

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SomeLightAssPlay t1_itlaeka wrote

to even remotely the degree that any other actual beach/coastal towns on the north shore/south shore/cape do? no, no i dont.

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somegridplayer t1_itlw28b wrote

Nope. Not like Rockport, Gloucester, and a smattering of towns in between, South Shore, Cape and South Coast do.

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[deleted] t1_itm3ydm wrote

Gloucester is the only Essex county town to earn more tourist dollars than Salem and it is by a very small margin.

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somegridplayer t1_itmcant wrote

According to?

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MrsMurphysChowder t1_itlg9rt wrote

Right, so if they want to have nonsense like "destination salem" (ooh, yeah let's celebrate the oppression, torture, and murder of women at the hands of religious extremists! No thank you.) They should set aside a separate place, like an amusement park, to do it. You can't be greedy for tourist dollars and then complain when that greed causes problems.

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Ksevio t1_itlwnwa wrote

It wasn't just women murdered in the Salem Witch Trials

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MrsMurphysChowder t1_itnj63z wrote

Splitting hairs a bit. It was primarily women. Does it make you feel better that men were tortured and killed, too?

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waffles2go2 t1_itnsn42 wrote

One in five witches was a male, but I bet you don't care about minorities...

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Ksevio t1_itnvb4e wrote

I think most people are celebrating the witches, not the killing of them anyways.

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