What If You Build It And No One Comes?

I don't know if you have heard but there is a new attraction at the Grand Canyon called Skywalk. Skywalk is a glass bottom walkway that loops out 70 feet from the rim of the canyon and hangs 4,000 feet above the Colorado River. Skywalk was built on private land owned by the Hualapai Tribe. The Skywalk is being advertised as a less crowed way to see the Grand Canyon; an alternative to the National Park on the other rim.

I know some people have criticized the Hualapai for building Skywalk because they are worried about the environmental impact on the Grand Canyon. I'm not sure it was a good idea either. You build one attraction and that seems to lead to another attraction and then another. Pretty soon you have an large amusement park. I have seen this happen at The Royal Gorge Bridge outside Canyon City in Fremont County, Colorado. It use to be when you visited the bridge that is all there was- a bridge. You could gaze down into the canyon and enjoy the quite surrounding you as you watched a hawk soaring above. Now...well, look at the map.

Just before the walkway was opened to the public the media were invited to take a stroll on it. Although most mentioned the steep price ($74.95), they seemed to find it worthwhile That price may be the sticking point for the tourist, though. An article on the Casa Grande Valley Newspaper website says:

Visitors must pay anywhere from $74.95 to $199 to walk on the Skywalk, depending on what other activities they do. (The tribe advertises a $49.95 rate on its Web site, but that just lets you "view" the Skywalk, not walk on it.)

Fifty dollars just to look at it? I repeat, fifty dollars to just look at it?

Now we are starting to hear from the tourists who have visited. This blog post (third paragraph) mentions a few things that made the author unhappy on his visit. At this blog the author complains about the cost and has an unfavorable review of the Skywalk experience written by a person who has been there in the comments. And last but not least (and the reason why I wrote this post) an article from the Denver Post. It describes what happened on the day a tourist from London visited Skywalk with his son.

It is kind of sad how fast the wheels are coming off the bus on this thing. The tribal leaders have said they build Skywalk to bring much needed cash to the people living here. Desperate people sometimes do things that are considered foolish to other people. I hope this is not the case here.