TIM BELFORD

On the Rolling Stones and tourist gouging

I guess bringing the Rolling Stones to Toronto is just fine.

Personally though, I wouldn't cross the road to watch anyone older than me pretend to be still twenty-one and ever so hip.

But, each to his or her own.

If four or five hundred thousand people want to dip into their wallets and buy the Stones another mansion or two, so be it.

What I do object to is the reason Mick and the Rolling Cadavers were summoned to 'Milwaukee on the Lake' in the first place.

Ostensibly, it's to give poor Sars-plagued Toronto a bit of a boost. Get those tourists on the planes again.

Well, I've got news for Hog Town, and the rest of the country for that matter, it won't work. Having just come back from holidays I've discovered the real reason nobody's travelling.

It's just too darn expensive.

Hotel owners, restaurateurs, camp ground entrepreneurs, and the people who control the hundreds of tourist traps from museums to boat tours all want too much!

Driving from Quebec City to Niagara Falls wasn't so much a vacation -- I was more like navigating my way through the Canadian version of Prates of the Caribbean.

First example:

A recent trip to Montreal took me to a one-time favorite Italian restaurant.

From humble beginnings on S. Catherine street, it's now moved to the vicinity of the Molson Centre.

Meanwhile, its prices have moved to the vicinity of London's west end.

Two glasses of house wine - I couldn't afford to buy a bottle without a line of credit - came to $17 and change.

The meal? No appetizer, no salad, two plates of pasta, seventy bucks plus tip!

The menu did say the pasta was made fresh at the restaurant. But for that price I want it flown in from Italy.

Second example:

A stop in Kingston, a perfectly nice small city on the shore of Lake Ontario.

It's got a pretty waterfront, Sir John A's old home, Queen's University, and a fairly decent farmers' market.

The average price of a downtown hotel room? One hundred and eighty-five a night plus tax.

Now remember, they don't have the Pyramids, the Smithsonian or the Eiffel Tower -- just Sir John A's grave.

And so it went.

Cash in a bond for breakfast, take out a loan for lunch.

You want a boat trip through the Thousand Islands? Just leave your car as collateral please.

Rather than encouraging visitors to come again, our tourism industry seems to operate on the principle of 'soak 'em good the first time.'

At least I can understand why Toronto picked the Stones. They're the only ones who can afford to stay downtown.