First one bus stopped then other bus companies saw that and they stopped and we started getting the tourists back little by little.
Miami Tour Company is the standard around here and the other buses took their lead and joined them. Yesterday they started arriving at about 11:00 am. It was slow and the going will start slow, but as the weeks go on, we should start seeing more tourists.
This is the most people we have seen on the streets in a long time, not including the holiday season. One person who has taken the Miami Tour Company's tours three times before, commented to the driver, Jim, that he was thrilled to be stopping in Coconut Grove, he wondered why they had never stopped before.
Normally the stop is 15 minutes for food and drink, but they extended their schedule to 30 minutes, but yesterday, they made it 50 minutes, because the tourists were having a ball.
I noticed many stores had their doors open, so I don't know if that was because of the nice weather or because they got the message that that was the thing to do to welcome people in. The tours accommodate five languages, so people from all over the world should be passing through.
One thought: Give out coupons or passes or something to get them back to shop and eat. The tours are usually a city tour passing through, the tour is not a tour of Coconut Grove, it's a tour of all of Miami and we are a stop along the way. This stop is everyone's opportunity to lure the tourists back for a long lunch, dinner or shopping spree.
One small problem: Cars are parking in the bus loading zone and the signage does not accommodate the buses on weekends. Today, many buses just kept going without stopping since there was no place to stop. That should be changed so that the buses can park there seven days a week. When one bus sees another, there's a chain reaction and they all want to stop and park, so having room for two or three buses at once is crucial.
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