@mattblaze Sitting in a cafe in East Vancouver, BC (an hour north of WA) and this is what the intergenerational group at the table next to me is talking about — how they go hiking and camping on the other side of the border, and the impact (and message conveyed) by the sharp rise in costs for non-residents.

@mattblaze so park rangers have to be immigration cops now?

@mattblaze Yeah, no one wants to come here anyway, bro. ugh.

@mattblaze if visitor numbers decrease they will use it as an excuse to destroy the park. Our park. And then they'll call them unprofitable.

We can't have everything be for profit! The nation will fall. It already is falling and we might not be able to reverse course. I loved the national parks and they were a sense of pride in my country that we had them for the public.

This mentality that everything in existence needs to turn a profit for the rich is not affordable. We can't afford the wealthy anymore

@mattblaze having to pay to go to national parks seems weird, it's free in Australia and New Zealand, not sure about the rest of the world

@mattblaze

How much of the American economy does tourism count for?

Does this apply to disneyland?

The only things on my bucket list in the US was places in national parts, so I suppose we put this on the pile reasons to not visit.

@mattblaze normally I'm happy to pay the relevant national or state authority fee anywhere in the world, to counter the harm my being there does to the very environment I'm visiting / to support preservation of natural environments. In the US case, under this administration, I am immediately concerned to know how this payment will be used. I actively do not want to contribute funds to vote buying or turning wilderness into Trump branded theme parks...

@mattblaze

Were…

@mattblaze Time to boycott your local National Park, which may be a good thing as the lack of humans fucking up the parks further may improve the ecological footprint of these parks.

@mattblaze Barbarous and disgusting

@mattblaze

Smart move, I guess it makes sense, can't have all those foreigners using up all the views.

#ustourism #ustourismdecline

@mattblaze The Soviets-Russians have done the same thing. My wife bought tickets and I said nothing. Didn't even get caught when I spoke in the Hermitage. Sweet!!!!!

@mattblaze I am almost in tears... I visited Yosemite and Acadia in the last couple of years and only paid like 35 USD for each entry... I hiked up the Beehive and now appreciate that. I did not make it to the Yosemite Valley back then because it was winter... Now it is over 100 USD to enter...

I will buy more Parks Canada passes..

@mattblaze

"GoVeRnMeNt rUn lIkE a BuSiNeSs"

@mattblaze Somebody needs to pay up for all the crap Agent Orange does, like financing ICE etc.
So he's starting with the tourists, making sure that they will think twice next time about a vacation in the USA.
America first. Rest of the world: don't care.

@mattblaze wow this will affect foreign students in the US too (F1 student visa is non resident alien for 5 years).

@mattblaze This is easy to decipher.

Step 1: Kill national parks tourism.
Step 2: "Look how badly our national parks are performing!"
Step 3: Sell off the national parks to the billionaires.
Step 4: Lawsuits, protests
Step 5: "Oh look it's an election year! What were we upset about again?"

Our only hope is that a lot of these crooks are super, SUPER dumb.

@mattblaze This is easy to decipher.

Step 1: Kill national parks tourism.
Step 2: "Look how badly our national parks are performing!"
Step 3: Sell off the national parks to the billionaires.
Step 4: Lawsuits, protests
Step 5: "Oh look it's an election year! What were we upset about again?"

Our only hope is that a lot of these crooks are super, SUPER dumb.

@mattblaze Serious shithole-country vibes.

@mattblaze I would not mind it if they were doing this as a way of further protecting the parks, something along the lines of crop rotation where you let a field lie fallow every few years.

But we know that's not the reason. They're going to mine it, clear cut, kill the predators, and destroy the habitat.

One more act of horrifying evil from this administration.

@mattblaze I don’t think this will impact tourism because we’ve done our best to discourage any sane person from visiting the USA.

@mattblaze ...a terrible, stupid idea....

@mattblaze
Basically gotta carry a passport to get in to a national park.

@mattblaze

Well...not surprising for a man who was in the tourism business yet still managed to go bankrupt seven times.

@mattblaze

So. Ehm. One question:

Why should I plan my vacation in the US?
Honestly! Why?
I have to pay 250 on top only to get a visa. And then I have to fear to be sent into a detention center because someone of ICE doesn't like my socks color. And if I like to visit something I have to pay another 250 bugs.
So.. why should I even mention to spent my money in the USA?

@mattblaze Ehh, right offhand, this would mean we should plan to prove whether we are citizens to get in ?

@mattblaze This is also unclear. Some parks, if you don't have the annual, you pay entrance for a day and at others entrance fee is good for 3 days to a week. Is this saying a family of four from China will pay $400 extra or maybe $1200 for their long weekend in Yosemite? Because the former may not deter many but the latter would.

@mattblaze Chinese in tour buses are a major source of Yellowstone National Park revenue. This fee increase may change that.

A lot of other foreigners visit, but in smaller groups.

@mattblaze And what's the overhead involved in ascertaining someone's citizen status? Does it even out? I doubt it.

@mattblaze Ah—“America’s best idea”, but only for Americans. Idiots.

@mattblaze Interestingly, India has done this for a long time, where residents and citizens pay a lower fee for things than foreign folks.

@mattblaze
People will turn up their noses at $100 for a national park only to go spend $500 at a *theme* park.

@mattblaze
There are many beautiful places in the world and a lot of them still have a working democracy and the people are safe from state sponsored kidnappings.

This will just help folks around the world find them.

@mattblaze

The fees aren't the goal. Selling America's birthright for a bowl of pottage is the aim.

When visitors stop coming to see the parks and revenue doesn't meet expectations, it builds a narrative for an elite land grab like Hungary's.

The goal is to sell national parks, privatize public lands, and hijack the revenue to profit GOP megadonors.

These billionaires are desperate to drill in Yosemite, contaminate wildlife refuges, log the last old growth forests, ...

1/

Also, one of the National Park "free days" (now for citizens only) is Trump's birthday (also Flag Day, but now re-branded).

Very DPRK.

@mattblaze They don't even realize this only hurts tourism for people visiting the States. They're such dumb dumbs.

@mattblaze Even if I was wanting to visit the US those fees would strike the national parks off my list.

@mattblaze so absolutely offensive

@mattblaze what the actual hell???

@mattblaze
Are we going to need to show id to enter these parks now? Ugh.

@mattblaze Non-residents for the $100 surcharge.

I wonder what effect that is going to have on Death Valley in the summer when the crazy Europeans tend to visit?

@mattblaze@federate.social a good chance to stop visiting them then

@mattblaze All part of the: "America The Beautiful. Don't Come Here." marketing plan.