FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Australian Dollar
View Single Post
Old Apr 7, 2011, 4:51 am
  #32  
number_6
Original Member
 
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,589
Originally Posted by CPMaverick
Carmel is notoriously expensive... I don't see that as a logical comparison point. Yes, I've been there, it's nice, but it is very high end.
So are the places in Australia that are being compared ... Sydney and Melbourne routinely place in lists of top 10 tourist destinations in the world, and depending on the list Australia has up to 50% of the world's iconic tourist destinations (things like Uluru and GBR). So comparing to Carmel is representative. There are cheap places in Australia too, lots of them, but US tourists don't go there. Instead they go to the expensive parts (making them more expensive ... certainly the rise in hotel room rates in Australia is entirely due to rising demand and highest occupancy rates in the world). US has similarly high priced tourist attractions (I was just looking at an inn in upstate NY that charges $20,000 per night if you rent all 3 of their rooms), or just look at any of the US State park grand lodges such as Yosemite ... $500 per person per day is typical if you can get a reservation. What Australia doesn't have are low-end cheap and sleazy motels and restaurants -- not entirely a bad thing, the worst place will still have reasonable quality, while some US motels are uninhabitable.

Want a bargain? Go to Queensland now, lots of half-price deals after the flood and cyclone disasters which have generated bad press and kept tourists away. But that is more like the anti-Carmel (Brisbane is nice enough, but it is no Sydney or Melbourne ).
number_6 is offline