Dear HCN,


Ed Quillen’s article on the Disappearing railroad blues shows the West is changing (HCN, 8/5/96), but I must disagree with his inference that tourism brings only minimum wage jobs. Tourists bringing in their $1,800 bikes on $30,000 vehicles are also going to spend millions on motels, quality restaurants, bike and vehicle mechanics, outfitters, even boutiques and stores selling geegaws, etc., and pay taxes to boot. Those American entrepreneurs willing to invest and work hard will reap the benefits. If a person is only able to find a minimum wage job, it is a reflection of either minimum skills or little commitment to a career.


As industries in the West change so must the individual. Acquiring skills is a responsibility taken by those who want decent compensation.

Pete Sozzi


Salmon, Idaho

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Bashing tourism doesn’t cut it

by Pete Sozzi, High Country News
September 16, 1996

<h1>Bashing tourism doesn’t cut it</h1> <p class="byline">by Pete Sozzi, High Country News <br />September 16, 1996</p> <p>Dear HCN,</p> <p>Ed Quillen’s article on<br /> the Disappearing railroad blues shows the West is changing (HCN,<br /> 8/5/96), but I must disagree with his inference that tourism brings<br /> only minimum wage jobs. Tourists bringing in their $1,800 bikes on<br /> $30,000 vehicles are also going to spend millions on motels,<br /> quality restaurants, bike and vehicle mechanics, outfitters, even<br /> boutiques and stores selling geegaws, etc., and pay taxes to boot.<br /> Those American entrepreneurs willing to invest and work hard will<br /> reap the benefits. If a person is only able to find a minimum wage<br /> job, it is a reflection of either minimum skills or little<br /> commitment to a career.</p> <p>As industries in the West<br /> change so must the individual. Acquiring skills is a responsibility<br /> taken by those who want decent<br /> compensation.</p> <p>Pete<br /> Sozzi</p> <p>Salmon, Idaho</p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=186866">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">Bashing tourism doesn't cut it</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-106/bashing-tourism-doesnt-cut-it/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=101813&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-106/bashing-tourism-doesnt-cut-it/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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