Have you heard about the new Margaritaville resort that’s being built on Galveston Island? If not, here’s a recent article that will give you some context. I have a huge problem with this, as they’re building this massive thing on my favorite beach, destroying wildlife habitat.
You might think that development, tourism, jobs, etc. are exciting no matter the cost. But in today’s day and age most beautiful places struggle with figuring out how to balance the onslaught of visitors with retaining quality of life, as well as a modicum of authenticity and charm. Galveston is no exception. And those of us who love it understand that above all we need to preserve its beauty and its nature.
In my book, you are of the Island and the Island is of you once you go through the following rites of passage: You turn a long walk on the beach into an impromptu plastic pickup expedition; you warn people against climbing the dunes (sea turtle habitat!) by telling them that’s where the rattlesnakes live; you give extensive thought to the possibility of recycling Mardi Gras beads, thus keeping them from going into the water; and, last but not least, you have an encounter with a bird or animal that seems so surreal and magical it takes your breath away. It might be white ibises sitting in a tree, a Roseate Spoonbill you spy in the marshes, a beach bird with a strange red beak you have to google then forget the name of, the ever elusive Sandhill Cranes. Or sometimes a coyote or alligator. My point being, Galveston is wild! It preserves the type of unspoiled nature we should cherish and seek to protect in our overly polluted, overcrowded, sadly unsustainable world.
Galveston is still a place where you can walk an unspoiled beach and find yourself alone with a Yellow Crowned Night Heron. It’s a place where sea turtles nest, where you can see rare birds, and sometimes just relax and take in the peace, salt air, and overall magic. The best spot for this on the Island is East Beach. And that’s where they’re building Margaritaville. There will be people drinking (possibly out of plastic containers) where the sea turtles nest. How could the City allow this?
While I get that tourism and the money it brings is important (more important than sea turtles and beauty, though?), and while I’m all for a beach town offering venues where people can sip margaritas, here’s another thing that bothers me about this: It seems that when it comes to marketing Galveston Island to potential visitors we keep focusing on its raucous side, which certainly has its appeal, but we fail to make a similar effort to attract visitors who will value Galveston for its peace, its natural beauty, its fascinating history, its charming architecture, its culinary traditions, its rich and layered music and arts scene. This is a problem with the tourism industry globally, actually, not just in Galveston. We want people to travel and spend money, then we complain that they trash beaches and do other annoying things. But if what we offer are cheap thrills instead of more meaningful experiences, we are not attracting the types of people who value the soul of a place. We’re also creating a world in which tourism is superficial and generic – a world where pretty much the same mediocre stuff can be mindlessly consumed everywhere. Why even travel if the whole world is a mega-mall where we can chug booze, eat boring foods, and buy T-shirts with similar messages?
Galveston Island has real beauty and real local charm to offer. And there are tourists who appreciate such things. We need to attract more of them. And when people come, we need to show them the historic houses, the beautiful birds, the wildflowers blooming in the dunes, the places where talented musicians perform, the restaurants that serve fresh local food, not a generic tourist trap that offers pretty much the same experience as everywhere else.
Rant most definitely not over. Will it help if a lot of us complain? Here’s hoping!
