Detroit Tourism Plans..

[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!

[gthomas]

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

[ghettopalmetto]

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!

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.

[iheartthed]

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

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

[gthomas]

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

[MSUguy]

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!

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.

[Iris Johnson]

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?

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

[gnome]

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!

[iheartthed]

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.

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.

[DetroitPlanner]

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.

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.

[iheartthed]

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.

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.

[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.

[iheartthed]

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.

I said:

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.

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:



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

[gthomas]

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..

[ghettopalmetto]

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

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.

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

[rb336]

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

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"