Quote:
Originally Posted by pickle.of.doom
Everything around the gap is tied to motorcycles and the road though. Hunters and fishers aren't going to keep every hotel in the area full all summer long. You aren't going to pay extra money for a room with a bike garage attached to sight see some wildlife. You aren't going to stop at wheelers to get some windshield washer fluid for the RV and 36 more rolls of film. You know it would be a huge hit to the local economy if motorcyclists didn't flock there.
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Actually I think cagers are going to push motorcycles out of this area as tourism keeps exploding in the area especially with the travel price crunch that is going on with cost of travel growing and more and more people looking to easy trips. Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Cherokee/Maggie Valley/Townsend is creating a huge spilloff to other areas. Motorcycle tourism is very minimal in the area when you consider the immediate area around this very small section of road. Most profitability in the direct area is pretty much all related to cruiser riders and very little to sportbikers at all. Which is very evident by DGMR putting in fake tennis courts so they can be classified as a resort so they can serve beer to that crowd. Even DGMR's profits aren't that great at all compared to other tourism in the immediate area and as the spilloff grows, the direction of these locations will direct their attention to those groups which offer the greater profit. The law enforcement of the area will expand driving out motorcyclists and bringing in more leaf lookers and nature people. The golden age of the gap is done. For those that got to experience it, it was awesome. For those that didn't get a chance, enjoy what you can while you can.