8,537,228 are a lot of people. The decline has been apparent for a number of years. While at times traffic is bad it has not been as bad as had been years ago. Dollywood is getting old. The Wild Eagle is like putting lipstick on a pig. When Dolly is no longer actively involved with Dollywood I expect Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation will try to sell it and find, due to their lack of maintenance, it is not worth what they think it is. Then even those jobs will be gone.
Any business that cannot afford a ten percent drop in income is in trouble. As a general rule if the only thing that differentiates you from your competition is price you cannot survive. None of the shows are worth what they charge for tickets. Nothing in Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge justifies business owners driving Mercedes and living in oversize houses. A few years ago a friend in the cabin business said Sevier County is recession proof. My guess is he does not hold that view today.
So batten down the hatches. The United States is in trouble. Everyone is concerned about jobs. Jobs are not the issue. Jobs that way livable wages are what are needed and the United States has none. We cannot compete with India, China and other third-world countries who pay anywhere from $0.10 to $6 or $7 an hour. The CEO of Wal-Mart is paid over 1,500 times as much as the average Wal-Mart employee is paid. Things will get worse and may never get better. We will regret the day we helped other people live the way we lived. Now we will live the way they lived before our help.
And then there is freak alley where dignified buildings used to be. Coming in from the exit 407 the impressions visitors get is embarrassing. Pigeon Forge looks like a carnival. Gatlinburg looks trashy and cheap. We have torn down our history and now cater to motorcycles, tattoos, and t-shirt shops.
If you didn't live here would you come here and pay over a thousand dollars for what we provide?
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