Detroit Tourism Plans..

I know Detroit seen some rise in tourism last year. What were the reason for that? How can we expand and grow that industry here? I know there's a down-side to it, [[ Poor Weather, Mass transit, lack of urban destinations etc...BROKE). What should the city do to increase the tourism industry here in Detroit? We have alot of things going for us here, we are the "Motor City, Motown, Sports town, International waterfront, Historic assets etc.)...Here's my list[[ Downtown Proper);

• Motown-theme retail, restaurants, Motown walk-of-fame, etc.
• Car-theme shops, restaurants, art sculpture's, etc.
• Faygo & Bettermade Interactive Museum/Factory, similarly to [[ Coco-Cola Factory in Atlanta)
• Veiwing Skyscraper's [[Toronto CN Tower), Michigan-theme [[waterfalls, evergreen's, native-landscape etc.)
• National Theme Park [[Six Flags, Busch Garden's)
• International Cruises
• Historic Model-T car Downtown Tour [[During summer months, a guided tour drive to historic destinations, local restaurants and entertainment..etc.)
• Motown Music installed in utilities pole Downtown and along West Grand Boulevard near Motown Musuem.
• Detroit-theme "Permanent" Drop-the-D structure/skyscraper. [[Old Lafayette Building location)

Note* In designing and building these things required "Bold and Striking" design. Really bright, pedestrian-friendly, creative, and fun.

This is just for conversation purposes, PLEASE don't jump down my throat about what will work or not. I don't want to hear that, I hear it too much in here enough. My purpose of this is to get people talking. What's your ideal, if any..?

visitdetroit.com

No reason to go to the current museums? Not even world class ones like the DIA, Henry Ford or Cranbrook?

No mention of casinos?

No mention of ruin porn or stalking Eminem, Kid Rock, or ICP?

No mention of concerts in an amazing group of historic and modern venues?

Amusement Parks are costly endevours with lots of failures. Recent Failures include the Hard Rock Amusement Park. Detroit not being able to support Boblo, and its proximity to Cedar Point and Michigan's Adventure may be detrimental to anyone looking to locate a park here.

Fix up some of the ruins to the point where they are safe for guided tours. A tour of ruins like the old train station and some of the theaters would be really interesting. It could be done in a tasteful and educational way too. It wouldn't have to be straight up ruin porn. In all honesty, if done right that could be a really big and totally unique attraction for the city.

Give homeowners in some of Detroit's older neighborhoods where homes are still in good condition grants to fix up their homes. Make the empty lots in these neighborhoods small quaint parks or green fields. The reason; when tourist tour Detroit in that "Model T" or chauffered driven 59 Cadillac they could drive through what made Detroit attractive in the past; It's neighborhoods. The Gratiot corridor is rich with homes that were built around the late 1800s to early 1900s. From the Eastern Markt to McCellan, Gratiot, with the razing of dilapidated homes, could be a nice touriest area.

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Originally Posted by Modusvivendi

A tour of ...some of the theaters would be really interesting.

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Preservation Wayne's Annual Theatre tour is held in August. Always a Saturday. Date to be determined for 2012.
http://preservationwayne.org/45-2/de...eritage-tours/

FYI...The Woodward Avenue Action Association [[WA3) launches their new In The Steps of Henry Ford bus tour this year. Details to be announced.

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Originally Posted by Kathleen

Preservation Wayne's Annual Theatre tour is held in August. Always a Saturday. Date to be determined for 2012.
http://preservationwayne.org/45-2/de...eritage-tours/

FYI...The Woodward Avenue Action Association [[WA3) launches their new In The Steps of Henry Ford bus tour this year. Details to be announced.

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There are some double Decker UK style buses available that could add a little extra draw to that .

But I would agree that adding and promoting tourism as another form of diversity would help with the exception of the ruin porn tour which would be somewhat depressing .

Bob Snow has just finished a project in Las Vegas he may be up to doing something like this in
Detroit .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_..._%28Orlando%29

I don't think that problem is that there aren't any reasons to visit Detroit. In other words, it's not necessary to build some kind of gimmicky attraction.

IMHO, tourism in Detroit would improve greatly if it enhanced what already exists. Things that I think would help tourism:

1. Convenient, affordable transportation to and from DTW that does not involve renting a car.
2. Some sort of transit system with regular, frequent service that connects activity nodes, i.e. downtown, midtown, Birmingham, Dearborn, etc.

3. Making downtown [[and other areas) pedestrian-friendly: street lights, well-marked crosswalks, wayfinding signage, streetscaping, promoting development [[instead of demolition).

Those three are the very *basic* requirements. Sure, you can go further, but without these, you're not going to get anywhere, no matter how many Theme Attractions you throw money at.

A few ideas:

1. Develop connections between the downtown hotels and the people mover. While I love the downtown street plan, visitors do find it very confusing. Encouraging them to ride the people mover provides them with a nice downtown tour, takes them to different areas without getting them lost, and boosts the ridership numbers on the DPM. Simple things like on the people mover map indicating that "Michigan" is the stop for the HI Express & Westin Book Cadillac could go a long way.

2. Use one of the many downtown theaters as a permanent Motown revue/musical venue with a daily [[or 5x weekly) show of just Motown songs from the Motown heyday. Las Vegas has an Elvis show every night, Detroit should have a Motown show. The key would be to get the quality vocalists who can really get the songs down good. But if you were able to get a good show going, this could easily be a staple attraction for out of town visitors as a must do when in Detroit.

3. Expand the number of days that tours are given of JLA and Comerica Park. Detroit is known for its sports teams, but tours are only given two days a week. A lot of other stadiums and arenas around the country give multiple tours daily of their venues.

Having an actual police presence would go a long ways in making people feel safe as well as ensure their cars would be where they left them in the same condition. Maybe if the thugs would quit murdering people for $50 would help as well.

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Originally Posted by Atticus

A few ideas:

2. Use one of the many downtown theaters as a permanent Motown revue/musical venue with a daily [[or 5x weekly) show of just Motown songs from the Motown heyday. Las Vegas has an Elvis show every night, Detroit should have a Motown show. The key would be to get the quality vocalists who can really get the songs down good. But if you were able to get a good show going, this could easily be a staple attraction for out of town visitors as a must do when in Detroit.

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I had always thought that a restored United Artists Theatre would make for a nice "niche" venue for just such a use. Although it originally had 2,070 seats, it was later reconfigured to a more roomy 1,488 seats... not a bad size for such a venture. And because it is so unlike any other of the downtown historic theatres [[non-European and non-Oriental style), it's exotic mix of details would be a match made in heaven for a Motown theme.

And maybe Dan Gilbert can use the 18 story office block for residential.... ;)

Turn on some streetlights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you enter Detroit on Woodward going south from Ferndale the first thing is the Eight Mile Bridge. At the top of the bridge you can see all the way Downtown to the GM building.

Enter Detroit on the same road at might, same view except starting at the top of the bridge south all the way to Seven Mile sometimes Six Mile lights on Woodward are out. This is not a one time occurrence they have been out for at least a year.

Ferndale/Oakland county half of Woodward bridge lights, Detroit/Wayne county no lights.

Many activities are in the evening no streetlights give tourists an unsafe feeling, especially the ones near the "WELCOME TO DETROIT " sign.

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Originally Posted by Atticus

2. Use one of the many downtown theaters as a permanent Motown revue/musical venue with a daily [[or 5x weekly) show of just Motown songs from the Motown heyday. Las Vegas has an Elvis show every night, Detroit should have a Motown show. The key would be to get the quality vocalists who can really get the songs down good. But if you were able to get a good show going, this could easily be a staple attraction for out of town visitors as a must do when in Detroit.

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That's a good idea. Maybe it could be the foundation for a true Motown Museum.

For a city with as much history as Detroit it is astounding how far behind the curve it is for attracting tourists [[and I'm not just talking about gamblers from Toledo) when compared to other American cities.

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Originally Posted by Gistok

I had always thought that a restored United Artists Theatre would make for a nice "niche" venue for just such a use. Although it originally had 2,070 seats, it was later reconfigured to a more roomy 1,488 seats... not a bad size for such a venture. And because it is so unlike any other of the downtown historic theatres [[non-European and non-Oriental style), it's exotic mix of details would be a match made in heaven for a Motown theme.

And maybe Dan Gilbert can use the 18 story office block for residential.... ;)

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That would be a great re-use for the UA theatre. I almost think it would have to be a smaller venue, as you probably wouldn't draw huge crowds regularly if it were the same show running continually. I also think that over time most of the audience would become out of town visitors wanting to do something "motown", just like most Bourbon Street Jazz Clubs are not filled with New Orleans locals.

However, I really do believe there would be a market for a Motown show that parents could bring their kids to and say "this is what Motown music is" or someone who just loves the motown sound and wants to hear it live. I also agree with the comment that it could be incorporated with a musical history museum. But I really believe this is a unique show that, if done well, could thirve in Detroit, and offer an experience that becomes a must do for anyone visiting the city.

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Originally Posted by iheartthed

That's a good idea. Maybe it could be the foundation for a true Motown Museum.

For a city with as much history as Detroit it is astounding how far behind the curve it is for attracting tourists [[and I'm not just talking about gamblers from Toledo) when compared to other American cities.

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What can make a better Motown Museum than what they have now??? What we should have is a localized R&R Hall of fame. Start with Uncle Jessie White, John Lee Hooker and bring it to modern times. We can keep ICP out of it though. Don't want to stink the place up with Faygo Spraying dirty haired slackers with fould mouths [[jugalloos).

Faygo Pop, Better Made Chips, Sander's Icecream, and Morley Candy should come together and have a specialty shop/Musuem Downtown, called "Best of Detroit Shop". That will be cool for out of towner[[s) can enjoy, locals too.

I can see a "Detroit LIVE" entertainment complex being included with the new Red Wing arena. Build the arena north of I-75/Downtown, on Woodward. Use the "Eddystone" as the premier Red Wings Hotel. Build the entertainment complex south of I-75, behind Fox Theater. Which included: Motown-theme retail, restaurants, Motown walk-of-fame, etc.
Car-theme shops, restaurants, art sculpture's, etc.
Faygo & Bettermade Interactive Museum/Factory, similarly to [[Coco-Cola Factory in Atlanta) Veiwing Skyscraper's [[Toronto CN Tower), Michigan-theme [[waterfalls, evergreen's, native-landscape etc.)
Detroit "Rock City" McDonald [[similiar to Downtown Chicago McDonald's)
Multiple Sports bars, restaurants, and shops.
Guitar-shaped skyscraper [[House of Blues)[[ Hyatt Hotel)
100 ft. tall old english "D", w/ water jets [[similiar to Belligio in Vegas)

Note: A plaza will be connecting both development over I-75, between Cass and Park Av.


z.about.com/.../1/0/j/8/5/philly_live_001a.jpg

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Originally Posted by gthomas

I can see a "Detroit LIVE" entertainment complex being included with the new Red Wing arena. Build the arena north of I-75/Downtown, on Woodward. Use the "Eddystone" as the premier Red Wings Hotel. Build the entertainment complex south of I-75, behind Fox Theater. Which included: Motown-theme retail, restaurants, Motown walk-of-fame, etc.
Car-theme shops, restaurants, art sculpture's, etc.
Faygo & Bettermade Interactive Museum/Factory, similarly to [[ Coco-Cola Factory in Atlanta) Veiwing Skyscraper's [[Toronto CN Tower), Michigan-theme [[waterfalls, evergreen's, native-landscape etc.)
Detroit "Rock City" McDonald [[similiar to Downtown Chicago McDonald's)
Multiple Sports bars, restaurants, and shops.
Guitar-shaped skyscraper [[House of Blues)
100 ft. tall old english "D", w/ water jets [[similiar to Belligio in Vegas)

Note: A plaza will be connecting both development over I-75, between Cass and Park Av.


z.about.com/.../1/0/j/8/5/philly_live_001a.jpg

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So your grand plan is to completely give up on Detroit the CITY, and replace it with "Detroit", the Theme Park???

:rolleyes:

Something wacko happened between your posts at 6:13 and 8:01. Maybe it was something you ate?

Its not a theme park? It's called entertainment, restaurants, bars, JOBS, excitement, somethnig to do and see after and before the game/theater shows..etc. It's so much better than walking around looking at vacant sea's of surface parking lots and homeless people. You have a better concept for the area?

How about a national coney island and a buddy's, I like gthomas I idea also, and move the pistons back also,

You silly lol, yeah I ate something called " Creative Minds"..try it lol.

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Originally Posted by 401don

Something wacko happened between your posts at 6:13 and 8:01. Maybe it was something you ate?

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philadelphia.about.com/od/arts/ss/philly_live.htm

Perfect example of what I'm talking about.

Thanks GUSHI, yeah a National Coney Island or how about a Little Ceasar restaurant..? Of course to include the Pistons!

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Originally Posted by GUSHI

How about a national coney island and a buddy's, I like gthomas I idea also, and move the pistons back also,

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Originally Posted by gthomas

philadelphia.about.com/od/arts/ss/philly_live.htm

Perfect example of what I'm talking about.

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So if I understand you correctly, the only thing Detroit needs is "entertainment"? No people, no businesses, just bread and circuses, right? If I'm not mistaken, that was the strategy Dennis Archer employed exclusively. You want more of the same?

What you fail to mention is that Philadelphia also has a fantastic downtown, where over 120,000 people reside. And it's far more interesting and exciting than the pre-fab plastic crap-plex shown in the image. Sure, that place will make money off sports fans [[i.e. people who were going to be in that area, anyway), but the city isn't banking its entire tourism industry on it. You can open as many "entertainment attractions" as you want, but who's going to keep all of them afloat???

Go ahead. Build Gatlinburg on the Detroit River. But it's not going to change a damned thing.

While we're at it, we should bring back the Freedom Gondola :rolleyes:

It's not the ONLY thing Detroit's need, got to start somewhere. Who saids it has to be in that order in doing business. How can you complain about something you know won't work or not? Where there's JOBS there's PEOPLE, where there's PEOPLE there's MONEY, where there's MONEY there's BUSINESSES, where there's BUSINESS there's TAX REVENUE, where there's TAX REVENUE there's CITY DEVELOPMENT'S..etc. It's a chain reaction of PROGRESSIVE GROWTH. And yes I do think it will make an impact. People lives near ATTRACTION'S. And by the way, BRING THE GONDOLA back too. What you FAIL to realize is this, we YOUNG folks don't mind this, if you want to keep and retain them here. Got to have something to do besides work and go home. That's why it's sooo dead after 6p..THERE'S NOTHING TO DO...[[the same reason[[s) most of my friends left for Chicago, Atlanta, and New York. ENTERTAINMENT...JACKass!

Now BANK on that buddy! It's called a THRIVING city!

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Originally Posted by gthomas

It's not the ONLY thing Detroit's need, got to start somewhere. Who saids it has to be in that order in doing business. How can you complain about something you know won't work or not? Where there's JOBS there's PEOPLE, where there's PEOPLE there's MONEY, where there's MONEY there's BUSINESSES, where there's BUSINESS there's TAX REVENUE, where there's TAX REVENUE there's CITY DEVELOPMENT'S..etc. It's a chain reaction of PROGRESSIVE GROWTH. And yes I do think it will make an impact. People lives near ATTRACTION'S. And by the way, BRING THE GONDOLA back too. What you FAIL to realize is this, we YOUNG folks don't mind this, if you want to keep and retain them here. Got to have something to do besides work and go home. That's why it's sooo dead after 6p..THERE'S NOTHING TO DO...[[the same reason[[s) most of my friends left for Chicago, Atlanta, and New York. ENTERTAINMENT...JACKass!

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Is that so? How many people live in Times Square? How many people live next to Navy Pier? How many people live in Atlanta strictly because of the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola? You're not talking about growth--you're talking about a hypothetical economy based on everyone vacationing in each other's towns. That ain't quite how it works, my friend.

Instead of throwing real money at pre-fab plastic crap, Detroit needs to work on making itself a functional city. No made-up "attraction" is ever going to replace the authenticity, history, or character of the ACTUAL Detroit. In the past 15 years, Detroit has done nothing BUT throw money at "ATTRACTIONS". Again, how well has that panned out?

Even if you *did* re-embrace the 1980s and build a pre-fab self-contained tourist trap [[Bayside in Miami, or Baltimore's Inner Harbor, anyone?), how the hell are people going to get there? Is everyone going to take a $60 cab ride from Metro Airport? How do they get around once they arrive?

Make Detroit a nice place to live and do business, and tourists will visit for the reasons that already exist. I promise.

Snyder to Detroit tourism: Don't forget to emphasize positive

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Curbing crime and the financial troubles facing Detroit are top priorities for Gov. Rick Snyder, but he also told the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau this morning that they need to be louder about the good that’s happening in the community.

“We’re not loud enough about how good we are,” Snyder said during the bureau’s annual meeting at the Fillmore Theater in downtown Detroit. “We need to spread the word that metro Detroit is the place to be.”

The competing priorities will be a challenge, he acknowledged. But the positive side of the message is an important one to keep the tourism industry thriving.

http://www.freep.com/article/2012012...isitors-Bureau

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLCkO...yer_detailpage

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Originally Posted by gthomas

It's not the ONLY thing Detroit's need, got to start somewhere. Who saids it has to be in that order in doing business. How can you complain about something you know won't work or not? Where there's JOBS there's PEOPLE, where there's PEOPLE there's MONEY, where there's MONEY there's BUSINESSES, where there's BUSINESS there's TAX REVENUE, where there's TAX REVENUE there's CITY DEVELOPMENT'S..etc. It's a chain reaction of PROGRESSIVE GROWTH. And yes I do think it will make an impact. People lives near ATTRACTION'S. And by the way, BRING THE GONDOLA back too. What you FAIL to realize is this, we YOUNG folks don't mind this, if you want to keep and retain them here. Got to have something to do besides work and go home. That's why it's sooo dead after 6p..THERE'S NOTHING TO DO...[[the same reason[[s) most of my friends left for Chicago, Atlanta, and New York. ENTERTAINMENT...JACKass!

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First what the hell are you trying to atttact tourist or young people to live in the city? Attracting tourist is an admirable goal, but things designed to attract tourist, rarely get people to live in a city. I'm betting your friends in Chicago or Atlanta are not spending a whole lot of time at Navy Pier, or the Coke Factory. What rebirth Detroit has seen has been through interesting small businesses, improvment at Eastern Market and the riverfront, not gimmicky bullshit. I'd like a Motown Museum and Faygo factory experience, but it's not going get people moving back to the city.

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Originally Posted by gthomas

Its not a theme park? It's called entertainment, restaurants, bars, JOBS, excitement, somethnig to do and see after and before the game/theater shows..etc. It's so much better than walking around looking at vacant sea's of surface parking lots and homeless people. You have a better concept for the area?

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You're idea is pretty cool! It would be a perfect place to unwind and bring a date! :o

This is an idea that never fails to incite the passions...

Embrace our image as a lawless frontier town: Visit RiotTown.

Just as places out West like Dodge City, Tuscon and others use their history to attract visitors, we could do the same and have tour busses roll through an active civil disturbance. A little like a Disney thrill ride with folks looting, turning cars over, shooting each other, ... The list of vignettes could be pulled from the front page of any random Freep or News.

There could be hooker trunk stuffing, NewYears Eve stray shot killing, building arson, packs of feral dogs ... Dang the list is endless....the cool thing about the random gun fire thing is you could make the event interactive just like when the shark jumps in the tourist tram, you could have a 'planted' victim on the tram who would have a exploding blood pack just go off splattering the tourists.

I understand the idea is a tad outside the box, but really now who needs another aquarium or museum or casino when you could exploit an existing natural resource: our unending supply of senseless acts.

Plus you would employ Folks and exploit their natural talents. Win win!

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Originally Posted by MSUguy

First what the hell are you trying to atttact tourist or young people to live in the city? Attracting tourist is an admirable goal, but things designed to attract tourist, rarely get people to live in a city. I'm betting your friends in Chicago or Atlanta are not spending a whole lot of time at Navy Pier, or the Coke Factory. What rebirth Detroit has seen has been through interesting small businesses, improvment at Eastern Market and the riverfront, not gimmicky bullshit. I'd like a Motown Museum and Faygo factory experience, but it's not going get people moving back to the city.

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I think there probably is a correlation between being a tourist destination and the ability to attract residents. Dunno if gthomas's idea is the right way to go about driving up tourism to Detroit, but I wouldn't be so dismissive about the link between tourism and migrants.

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Originally Posted by iheartthed

I think there probably is a correlation between being a tourist destination and the ability to attract residents. Dunno if gthomas's idea is the right way to go about driving up tourism to Detroit, but I wouldn't be so dismissive about the link between tourism and migrants.

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If this is true then why does mackinac city and frankenmuth have small populations but attract millions per year? What you need to attract residents are good paying jobs. There are cities in N Dakota that are boomtowns but they have zero tourist amenities.

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

If this is true then why does mackinac city and frankenmuth have small populations but attract millions per year? What you need to attract residents are good paying jobs. There are cities in N Dakota that are boomtowns but they have zero tourist amenities.

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I thought it was pretty obvious that I was talking about cities.

And fewer people live in the entire state of North Dakota than live in the city of Detroit.

Mackinaw City and Frankenmuth are cities that are tourist destinations. North Dakota is growing like gangbusters because it has jobs. Face it, entertainment does not produce many good paying jobs. If it did, Frankenmuth and Mackinaw city would be significantly larger places.

Detroit has a ton of nightlife compared to most places in the world, it is still losing population.

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Mackinaw City and Frankenmuth are cities that are tourist destinations. North Dakota is growing like gangbusters because it has jobs. Face it, entertainment does not produce many good paying jobs. If it did, Frankenmuth and Mackinaw city would be significantly larger places.

Detroit has a ton of nightlife compared to most places in the world, it is still losing population.

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I said:

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I think there probably is a correlation between being a tourist destination and the ability to attract residents. Dunno if gthomas's idea is the right way to go about driving up tourism to Detroit, but I wouldn't be so dismissive about the link between tourism and migrants.

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Never said anything about nightlife or what exactly is that attracts visitors just so that we are clear.

I also never said anything about entertainment being the source of "good paying jobs". What I am saying is that there seems to be some type of connection between population trajectory and tourism. Am I saying it is a iron clad link? Of course not. New Orleans is a major tourist destination but has been declining in population. Dallas isn't much of a tourist destination but it has been growing.

Anyway, I did a rough test of my theory on a spread sheet using a list of the top 30 visited cities in 2008. I used the number of visitors to the central city and divided that by the population of the MSA for that city to create a ratio. I also included the population growth from 2000 -2010 for that MSA. Here's a screen shot of that spreadsheet:

Attachment 11896

So there seems to be a bit of a connection between the visitor/population ratio and the growth rate. It's not linear but there is a clear cut off point around a ratio of 4.61 - 4.62 where growth rates go from being above 10% to being significantly below 10%. There are two obvious outliers, St. Louis which has a high ratio but low growth rate, and Dallas which has the reverse. But St. Louis does have a very prominent tourist attraction.

Now, I'm not claiming that tourism causes population growth or that population growth causes tourism. I'm just saying that there seems to be something there [[and by extension if Detroit increased its efforts to draw in tourists to the city then that could only be a plus for the region). I don't have the time or resources to thoroughly investigate this but as a next step I would probably look at where tourists are coming from for each city and use that to calculate a better ratio [[for instance, I'd bet that most visitors to Detroit are coming from within 100 miles, as opposed to San Francisco where a more significant percentage of visitors probably travel farther distances to visit).

Finally, I removed Orlando and Vegas because those economies are obviously built primarily on tourism [[and the cities themselves aren't the destinations).

Pulled visitor numbers form here: http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-...s-america.html

Oh WOW! That's a nice chart..great point there. My whole point of this thread was to say " Let's keep a forward "creative" concept about tourism. It may not attract alot of new residents as much as tourism itself, but it does has an effect, if done right. You may not agreed to all of my proposal's, but I rather see any development over vacant gravel parking lots. It does equal to some jobs and it will be an attraction once built. PERIOD.

You'll never know how things will turnout if it never comes to fruition? You can't see the future..

Regardless of what most of you argue with me about on this issue, most of my friends DID relocate to other thriving cities due to Coca-Cola Factory and Olympic park and other major attractions etc..to their Downtown. Most of them mention lack of entertainment [[Not "Night Life"), Mass Transit, and "Theme" attractions. Chicago's Mag Mile..those "National Retail"..etc, that everyone hate's in Detroit. They ALL left quoting that, saying it's not enough excitement in Detroit...hey, the facts are there. I'm not saying build a DisneyLand, but build something "Uniquely" Detroit, something "EXCITING" on a sunday afternoon. I just gave some example's..

You guys go ahead with your Ferris Wheels and Mystery Spots and other Tchotchke Tourist Traps. Here's what's happening on the other side of Lake Erie.

RTA wants to make it easier for tourists by offering the 'Cleveland Pass,' conference discounts

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RTA developed the strategies after a tourism summit in the fall, which included Positively Cleveland, the city's convention and visitors' bureau...

...The summit identified easier access to public transit as one way to boost tourism, Hotchkiss said.

"If visitors have access to affordable transportation and have ease of access, they are more likely to spend more [[money) and spend more time,'' [[Lexi) Hotchkiss [[spokeswoman for Positively Cleveland) said.

Stephen Bitto, head of RTA's marketing, said he'd like public transit "to be the mode of choice'' for visitors.

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http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012...sy-to-use.html

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Originally Posted by ghettopalmetto

So your grand plan is to completely give up on Detroit the CITY, and replace it with "Detroit", the Theme Park???

:rolleyes:

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It worked for New York. Of course they had a bunch of "help" from Disney.

I lived there during the transition -- it was "disneyland under martial law"