Why All-inclusive Resorts Are the True Way to Vacation (Revision)

For the last four vacations of my life, I have gone to a place where I have had to go out with family and purchase groceries in order to have dinner. Or rather a choice between that and to go out to an overpriced restaurant which leaves you starving after a 100$ meal. This year I decided to take a different route and take the “All-inclusive” approach.

What really sets all-inclusive resorts apart from other five star hotels (besides the obvious price boost) is the level of comfort and relaxation at the guests’ disposal. With overall rising prices around the world, people tend to take less and less vacations unless absolutely necessary. The last thing someone would want is to escape work and go to a place where you have to work even harder than back home.

When last year I went to Hawaii, there were no all-inclusive resorts available. My family and I stayed at a nice little resort on Maui, and the place had everything. From a large swimming pool, to a gorgeous view. However, when it came time to sit down for dinner, my parents ended up having to cook, as well as drive to the nearby supermarket to purchase groceries. I definitely do not consider that a vacation!

In 2009, it was reported that every single hotel on the hotel strip at Cancun, Mexico, offered an all-inclusive service. This, along with other factors, is a clear reason why Mexico is one of the biggest tourist hotspots in the entire world. Nobody wants to go on vacation on some exotic beach and spend half the day cooking. The American islands of Hawaii clearly rely more on natural beauty than guest services in order to attract tourism.

A few years ago, I took a weeklong vacation with my family and a group of friends in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I received every second of relaxation and enjoyment that I (my parents) had paid for. While the all-inclusive service does cost considerably more than the traditional lodging price, it is completely worth it. Considering that an average person will pay more to go out every night and eat, than is included in the all-inclusive price.

Money is also not the only important factor here. The whole concept of a vacation is for a person to go somewhere else and relax, without having to worry about little things such as where to eat, and how much money to carry around. All-inclusive resorts take care of all this trouble by providing food and every service imaginable to the guest.

From my Cabo experience, I can vouch for all-inclusive being the best way to vacation. Sitting at one of the six hotel restaurants and ordering whatever I feel like without having to worry about the cost. Spending a few hours by the pool where friendly waitresses bring you any drink which comes to your head – free of charge of course. There is no way that this experience can compare to the one I had in Hawaii, where cooking and shopping were a necessity.

With the decreasing economy around Latin countries, it is very important for Mexico to maintain its constant flow of tourists. A little less than 10% of the country’s GDP comes from tourism! Also, about 10% of the country’s employment is in the hotel and resort business.

Aside from the economy problems, a huge issue in Mexico is the current drug wars. When Americans, and frankly anyone, hear about drug shootings and tourists being held hostage, they don’t want to visit the place. And that is just common logic. Why go to a place with such high potential dangers. A study shows that despite heavy discounts, most resorts report only up to 80% occupancy. A sad, but very real truth.

I, for one, will not stop visiting Mexico for my vacations, partly because of what I saw last time. The entire resort was guarded by a large number of armed guards. Security was at a maximum. After visiting such a great place, where you can eat and drink all you want for a week straight, there is no way I can go back to a hotel experience where the cost is the same, but the labor is high.

Why All-inclusive Resorts Are the True Way to Vacation

For the last four vacations of my life, I have gone to a place where I have had to go out with family and purchase groceries in order to have dinner. Or rather a choice between that and to go out to an overpriced restaurant which leaves you starving after a 100$ meal. This year I decided to take a different route and take the “All-inclusive” approach.

What really sets all-inclusive resorts apart from other five star hotels (besides the obvious price boost) is the level of comfort and relaxation at the guests’ disposal. With overall rising prices around the world, people tend to take less and less vacations unless absolutely necessary. The last thing someone would want is to escape work and go to a place where you have to work even harder than back home.

When last year I went to Hawaii, there were no all-inclusive resorts available. My family and I stayed at a nice little resort on Maui, and the place had everything. From a large swimming pool, to a gorgeous view. However, when it came time to sit down for dinner, my parents ended up having to cook, as well as drive to the nearby supermarket to purchase groceries. I definitely do not consider that a vacation!

In 2009, it was reported that every single hotel on the hotel strip at Cancun, Mexico, offered an all-inclusive service. This, along with other factors, is a clear reason why Mexico is one of the biggest tourist hotspots in the entire world. Nobody wants to go on vacation on some exotic beach and spend half the day cooking. The American islands of Hawaii clearly rely more on natural beauty than guest services in order to attract tourism.

A few years ago, I took a weeklong vacation with my family and a group of friends in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I received every second of relaxation and enjoyment that I (my parents) had paid for. While the all-inclusive service does cost considerably more than the traditional lodging price, it is completely worth it. Considering that an average person will pay more to go out every night and eat, than is included in the all-inclusive price.

Money is also not the only important factor here. The whole concept of a vacation is for a person to go somewhere else and relax, without having to worry about little things such as where to eat, and how much money to carry around. All-inclusive resorts take care of all this trouble by providing food and every service imaginable to the guest.

From my Cabo experience, I can vouch for all-inclusive being the best way to vacation. Sitting at one of the six hotel restaurants and ordering whatever I feel like without having to worry about the cost. Spending a few hours by the pool where friendly waitresses bring you any drink which comes to your head – free of charge of course. There is no way that this experience can compare to the one I had in Hawaii, where cooking and shopping were a necessity.

With the decreasing economy around Latin countries, it is very important for Mexico to maintain its constant flow of tourists. A little less than 10% of the country’s GDP comes from tourism! Also, about 10% of the country’s employment is in the hotel and resort business.

Aside from the economy problems, a huge issue in Mexico is the current drug wars. When Americans, and frankly anyone, hear about drug shootings and tourists being held hostage, they don’t want to visit the place. And that is just common logic. Why go to a place with such high potential dangers. A study shows that despite heavy discounts, most resorts report only up to 80% occupancy. A sad, but very real truth.

I, for one, will not stop visiting Mexico for my vacations, partly because of what I saw last time. The entire resort was guarded by a large number of armed guards. Security was at a maximum. After visiting such a great place, where you can eat and drink all you want for a week straight, there is no way I can go back to a hotel experience where the cost is the same, but the labor is high.

Government Aims to Build a ‘Data Eye in the Sky’

Social scientists are currently attempting to create a technological wonder which has never before been seen. They are trying to collect massive data from the Internet and the digital trails left by cell phones, in order to mathematically and psychologically predict the future. 


The more optimistic scientists believe that all the data will for the first time reveal a pattern in human nature, which will turn the population into a predictable movement - similar to chemical or physical changes in science. Thomas Malone, the director of the Center for Collective Intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, states that “we have vastly more detailed and richer kinds of data available as well as predictive algorithms to use, and that makes possible a kind of prediction that would have never been possible before.”


The government is fully in support of the whole operation. This summer, a small intelligence agency began scanning the Internet in over 21 Latin countries looking for "big data". These first steps of the three year project are being funded by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), which is part of the office of the director of national intelligence. This automated data engine will focus on collecting its information from public data sources such as Web search queries, blog entries, Internet traffic flow, financial market indicators, traffic web cams, and changes in Wikipedia articles.


So far there have only been small attempts at digging through social media. For example, HP researchers used Twitter in order to predict box office revenues for Hollywood movies. The results were accurate. Later that year, the National Science Foundation approved funds for this kind of research in order to predict earthquake damage in real time. “Big data allows one to move beyond inference and statistical significance and move toward meaningful and accurate analyses,” said Norman Nie, a political scientist who was a pioneering developer of statistical tools for social scientists.


There are however some scientists who are skeptical towards the whole idea. Remembering the Pentagon’s ill-fated Project Camelot in the 1960’s, which was cancelled due to widespread criticism by scholars. Project Camelot involved collecting information in Chile, looking for any violent changes. However, the unethical collection of data led to an uproar among the social scientists, which claimed that the process went against their beliefs.


Recently there have been fewer and fewer scientists opposing the idea. The ones who are accepting the project claim that the new technologies will have a positive effect. “The result will be much better understanding of what is going on in the world, and how well local governments are handling the situation,” said Sandy Pentland, a computer scientist at the M.I.T. Media Laboratory. “I find this all very hopeful rather than scary, because this is perhaps the first real opportunity for all of humanity to have transparency in government.”


Advocates of privacy rights argue that public data and the related methods developed in IARPA’s new project will ultimately turn into clandestine “total information” operations. "These techniques are double-edged," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy rights group based in Washington. "They can be used as easily against political opponents in the United States as they can against threats from foreign countries." 


Aside from the various skeptical social scientists, there are also the computer specialists. Many of them are in doubt that the Web search engines will be able to provide the needed data to support the whole operation. They argue that while searches collect information from everywhere, they do not improve the information. In a study where scientists tried to predict the flu, what was found on the web was nothing more than what was already present in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Ultimately, scientists would like to discern behavioral laws that match the laws of physical science. But to many, this idea seems far away from our technological grasp.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/science/11predict.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=science