Vicenza wrote:airbazar wrote:Thailand is dirt cheap, backpacker central. People who go to Thailand are people who can't even afford to go to Palma. Completely different clientele. Which is not to say that people with money don't go to Thailand but you get the gist. On the other hand, Hawaii is expensive in and on itself. People who go to Hawaii are a much wealthier crowd. BA failed in Thailand because they couldn't compete with various lower cost operators, or didn't feel that the rock bottom yields were worth competing for.
That is both quite a generalisation, and a gross exaggeration on almost every point, especially the utter nonsense in your second sentence. And no, I don't get 'the gist' at all. People go to Thailand, and similar destinations, for a wide variety of reasons and particularly for the cultures of SE Asia....not especially to do with 'wealthy'. After all, Hawaii is merely only a US state with nothing cultural, particularly special or even friendly about it. For Europeans, it is not particularly accessible without a very long flight(s) and for no really special reason other than ego purposes. It has very little to do with being 'wealthier', but than that and ego is pretty much a mainstay fixation on a,net. BA didn't
fail in Thailand....they generally don't like competition and pretend to prefer 'premium' passengers. That's fair enough of course, and entirely up to themselves.
Tell me you haven't been to Hawaii without telling me you haven't been here. Hawaii has a very distinct culture to the rest of the US not to mention native Hawaiian culture. It is also one of the most ethnically diverse states in the country.
Are you going to experience that culture, and what makes Hawaii special if you never leave the confines of Waikiki, Wailea or Waikoloa ? No...
But you could say the same for any destination. If you stay in and around your resort in Thailand or Bali, the Caribbean or Mexico they are all devoid of culture or anything special. That's by design. Resorts/resort areas are designed to be homogeneous, with little superficial bits of the locale sprinkled in.
As for your assertion that there is nothing special about the Hawaiian islands. There are 8 volcanic rocks in the middle of Pacific teeming with flora and fauna found no where else on the planet. You can drive up to Mauna Kea and have a snow ball fight with your friends/family and be at the beach an hour later. The Hawaiian island chain as a collective has all but 2 of the "climate classifications" in the world and boasts the associated change in scenery befitting each climate class and can be experienced in a matter of hours by car.
The one thing I will agree with you on is that locals need to quit with the unwarranted hostility towards visitors. That said, there are a lot of behind the scenes factors that contribute to a less than favorable view on visitors, some warranted, some not. Not sure why you would respond to someone "trashing" Thailand by trashing another place. Both places offer unique experiences for those willing to go out and take them in.
I've never understood why discussions on potential leisure routes ALWAYS devolves into the narrow minded "why go there when you could go here" argument. Different strokes for different folks.
77H