April 04, 2007

Skywalk rips off tourists

Tired tribe takes grandeur out of canyon Skywalk"First they rob you with the $50 bus ride," said Patrick, "and then the platform itself is so, well, it was not at all what they said it was or what the brochure drawings show."

Patrick said the platform is not suspended "4,000 feet above the Colorado River" as the brochure and website claim. Security agents at the platform take all cameras and return them when tourists are back inside an adjoining building.

"The river is way off in the distance," he said. "And the cliff comes out at an angle so most of the time the rocks are just 300 or 400 feet beneath you. ... We're going to ask for some of our money back."

4 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
It's all in the marketing strategies. They should have said that the tourists were walking in the footsteps of John Herrington, the first Native American into space! It matters not if they ever had heard or him or if Herrington really was the first or even if he really is Native. It's all in the MARKETING! No matter that the river is a mile or more off in the distance, you're still 4,000 above it. Look carefully, squint if you have to, but there it is! Okay, here's a pair of binoculars. Satisfied? By the way, those binocs cost $99. No checks, but we do take American Express...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

Walking in Buzz Aldrin's footsteps would be more of a selling point.

In any case, smart tourists will research the Skywalk before plunking down their money. When they do, they'll come across postings like this one.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Which is good, because writerfella always is against unwise decisions made by Native tribes. If tourists research and find these posts, the better it is for their sake. What with the price of gasoline nowadays, going to Hualapai Land only to be overcharged AND disappointed simply means a bad taste left in their mouths toward ANY Native enterprise. It might even mean that a new stereotype is a-borning...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

Re "What with the price of gasoline nowadays, going to Hualapai Land only to be overcharged AND disappointed simply means a bad taste left in their mouths toward ANY Native enterprise": Right. It might create hard feelings toward Native people.