Few Question

[Thalassophobia]

I absolutely hate Shopping Mall. It only give huge red number and never gain enough profit to make it worth building. Do you guys also skip this in your run?

Also ,it take a lot of product output to breach through islander's consumption to get those goods exported. After I finished juggling my traffic ,making enough excess product (Canned food ,Foods) seem like a big hurdle. I guess I have to build more dock to increase importing volume to feed these industry?? Producing all raw material by myself seem somehow counter productive. Or maybe I should just line up my industry close to dock and hope teamsters won't put the goods in my market.

[Uzi Master]

The shopping mall satisfies a hidden 'need' for tropicans, increasing their happiness. Not really needed, but if you want to maximise happiness you can use it.

It's a bad idea to import all three resources for the cannery; I would only import coffee. The building itself will only turn all three imports on and off, but you can select them individually in the almanac.

And yes, import/export economy takes a lot of teamsters.

[Thalassophobia]

Originally posted by Uzi Master:

The shopping mall satisfies a hidden 'need' for tropicans, increasing their happiness. Not really needed, but if you want to maximise happiness you can use it.

It's a bad idea to import all three resources for the cannery; I would only import coffee. The building itself will only turn all three imports on and off, but you can select them individually in the almanac.

And yes, import/export economy takes a lot of teamsters.

Why import cash crop like coffee?

[Raptor]

Shopping mall is only good if you have a island geared towards tourism.
Set it to Outlet Store, and then it will turn a profit.

Cash crops can be imported if you have low population and need to focus on food production. The market only takes food crops, not any other factory goods.
Sugar is one that can turn a profit easily. Have a rum distillery, import sugar, make huge profits.

[Uzi Master]

Tourism is kinda bad anyway though. And the cost to import the luxury goods mean it'll be a longtime before you actually turn a profit.

Originally posted by LunaRusalka:

Why import cash crop like coffee?

you said yourself you don't want to make the raw materials?
Canned coffee is much more profitable than canned fish and canned pineapple.

On a per-working basis, importing raw resources is more profitable than making them yourself. Fish, pineapple. logs and lumber however aren't worth importing compared to everything else you can refine.

I singled out coffee because the cannery has multiple inputs, but you would only really want coffee for it.

[Raptor]

If done right, Tourism is one of the most profitable businesses in the game.
Hotels can make massive amounts of cash.
The main problem people have with tourism, that I can gather from the forums, is that because tourism makes small amounts of cash consistently instead of one large lump sum, it makes it seem like it produces less. But with hotels and tourist attractions, after about a year, money will roll in.
Another problem people have with tourism, is that is quite demanding on employment. You do need enough population to cater to it. But there is a solution. Once you have decided to go the tourism option, start making hotels and attractions, then do the Chinese Edict, bringing in 100 workers.
I highly recommend getting an airport after building the tourist dock.
Temples and Fort Ruins make perfect attractions, and will produce huge amounts of cash, even with 4 colour brochure.
The Cruise Ship also is a great money maker, and the Cosmic Pin set to all-you-can-drink.
If you can spare the manpower, I would highly recommend building the Beach Villa's. They only cater to 2 families, but they make a good amount of money, and bring in tourists that will spend more money.

[Uzi Master]

It really isn't. Industry can get over a million dollars a year; tourism simply cannot compete.

[Raptor]

Originally posted by Uzi Master:

Tourism is kinda bad anyway though. And the cost to import the luxury goods mean it'll be a longtime before you actually turn a profit.

One of my Islands is geared towards Industy.
I have a shopping mall set to Outlet. 2 years and it's now in the black, making about $10k a year.

Originally posted by Uzi Master:

It really isn't. Industry can get over a million dollars a year; tourism simply cannot compete.

Depends on what you prioritise your Island towards. If you build lots of Industry, Industry will make more, If you work towards Tourism, you can make just as much.
Getting an accurate income from tourism is a bit tricky as well. Entertainment building are not classed as tourism, some of each buildings income will be Tropicans, and some will be tourists.

[Uzi Master]

So the lifetime balance is in the black? In tow years? Impressive.

Prioritisation doesn't change the basic math; tourism just is not as profitable as industry. Show me a tourism island with over a million in yearly profit and I'll change my mind. Yes some of the income isn't listed under tourism, but you can still clearly see it in the overall balance.

(Granted industry can get well over two million a year, but the point is tourism doesn't get close.)
Here's an example of how much money industry makes:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3092469966

[Raptor]

So here is an Island of mine that I've started to invest into tourism.
As you can see it's only 1977, and the only part of the tourism that the almanac is hiding is a pub and another Beach Villa.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3092726061
Getting a profitable tourism sector can cost a fair bit in capital, takes a fair amount of land and drains workers, but you are getting a steady flow of cash as tourists spend money, instead of big lump sums, making spending more manageable.
If managed well, tourism is lucrative, but most people either don't know how to use it correctly, or don't bother with it, and just write it off as bad, with out ever giving it a good try.
EDIT: One other thing you can't see in that screenshot is the road that leads north goes to a temple, Eco Tourists love that type of crap, and flock to it.

[Uzi Master]

The numbers speak for themselves. Your tourism income is barely higher than your farming income.

I write it off as bad because compared to industry, it is.

It can be fun making the 'bad' choice work in a game. But I don't tell people its a good choice when I do it.

[Thalassophobia]

Tourism seem to be designed for side business more than Industrial.
I love tourism in Tropico 2 the most.
These ' TOURISTS ' won't get out of my island without my saying.
And they get infinite amount of money to spend on my rip off tourist trap.
Well ,not actually money in cash ,but credit.