Eye on the Economy
Here’s my stab at taking my blog mainstream; the following is a piece I submitted to be part of a larger article in an economy magazine and website. I sent this in as a response to a query asking for job opportunities during a potential recession. Please read on and I appreciate all feedback and critiques:
I am by no means a professional job market analyst but I am a student of the economy and business.
And from what I’ve read and my own observations, it seems that one of the best opportunities students will have to hold down jobs in the impending recession will be in the hospitality industry. The reasons for this are economic as much as they are monetary. Our dollar is in a nosedive which means that Americans receive less when they exchange for foreign currency and foreigners receive more when they exchange for our dollar. The result of this is that Americans will now be, and are, taking vacations within the states this year.
Experts within the travel industry anticipates that the trend will be towards taking shorter and more frequent trips: like a weekend trip to one of the U.S. beaches, a weekend trip to Mt. Rushmore etc. Along those lines, we can expect to see more tourism and vacations from foreigners coming from out of the country. These foreigners will be receiving big bucks for their currency so may be taking extra long vacations and will certainly be spending more money. If you ask me, and I think the experts agree, the hotel, resorts, spa, and other vacation related industries, may well be pretty recession proof this time around. At least they will be fairly well guarded and thus will provide great full and part time job opportunities for college students. Hospitality is more secure than travel itself: we don’t really know how people will prefer to travel by car or by plane due to gas prices increasing. But we can expect they will be traveling and a good assumption would be that many trips will be made within traveler’s own state of residency just so they can cut back on the travel costs. In Colorado, for example, there will likely be an increase in Denverites traveling to the mountains to cool off or somewhere like Pueblo Reservoir to warm up and water ski, etc.
Eye on the Economy:
I’ll be focusing some of my blogs, now and in the future, on a Denver based perspective of the current state of the economy: locally, nationally, and globally, as well as how this might affect the people of Colorado. Stay tuned, and as always, thank you.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
What does this mean, specifically, for Colorado? I anticipate a sizeable boost in tourism, especially with the Democratic National Convention coming to town. For more on the DNC in Denver, please view the about-denver blog here:
http://www.about-denverco.com/2008-democratic-national-convention/
April 18th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
If you are correct in your predictions, Sean, then we are very lucky indeed, to be Colorado residents. We have incredible vacation spots and tourist sites to enjoy right here in our very own landlocked state. Maybe it’s time we forego the trip across country and replace it with a simple jaunt across Colorado. Keep our dollars right here in our own home towns!
May 14th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I have always been amazed by people like my rich aunt who has travelled all over the world on a regular basis, but has been to only a few US states. This country is so diverse with history, deserts, mountains, beautiful beaches and as you mentioned vacations here can be very affordable. There is also a trend in the hospitality industry to begin paying living wages to their workers-as seen witnessed at the Hyatt last year. Things go in cycles, perhaps as you suggest,we can help turn this economic trend around through tourism and gain a greater love and respect for our home.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:22 am
You’re right, Cindy. This country has so much to offer with our diversity of landscape, and I think Americans will really rediscover that this summer