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Columbus is a regional drive market. Few people are flying here to take a vacation. In a perfect world, the city would have a huge marketing budget to promote the wonderful, world class aspects of our city to the entire world. But realities being what they are, they have to concentrate money and time marketing in the regions that perform best from an ROI perspective. This is not the same as conceding that we're not as good. It's realizing that to grow the tourism industry here, we need to identify our best targets.
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
Columbus vs Them
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Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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bjones7 wrote >>
Let me ask you this question. If you lived somewhere other than Ohio, what would cause you to come to Columbus, other than for work or family??I already answered this on page one:
When I visit other cities, it's usually to take in their "local" scene. Explore what they have to offer in terms of local art, local music, local restaurants, local bars, local nightlife, local neighborhoods, etc.
bjones7 wrote >>
Now let me ask, as a resident of Columbus, why do you go to NYC, Chicago or California ( L.A /S.F)?I visit big cities for the same reason I visit small cities:
When I visit other cities, it's usually to take in their "local" scene. Explore what they have to offer in terms of local art, local music, local restaurants, local bars, local nightlife, local neighborhoods, etc.
Posted 3 years ago # -
lifeliberty
Here
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Agreed, I always like visiting Athens, OH, but there is nothing to really 'see' there. It's more of a vibe I guess.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Andrew Hall
Dennison Place (The Circles)
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Walker wrote
When I visit other cities, it's usually to take in their "local" scene. Explore what they have to offer in terms of local art, local music, local restaurants, local bars, local nightlife, local neighborhoods, etc.That kind of dodges the question though - what makes you choose City A over City B? That is what determines tourism marketing decisions.
In most cases for pure leisure travel, there is an initial impetus to visit someplace - a major attraction, a traveling exhibit of note, a sporting event, convention, natural resource. What then detemines whether people pull the trigger (if they are on the fence in choices or just in going) are the additional aspects you describe and if they are significant compared to other choices.
A.
Posted 3 years ago # -
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Well clearly you're all just too average to speak for the average tourist :)
Posted 3 years ago # -
manticore33
Delaware, OH
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somertimeoh wrote >>
No kidding! Though I can't lie, I sure wish I was typing this post from a beach on a day like today :PAlum Creek State Park has pretty good sized beach.
From the DNR's website:
Swimming
3,000 foot beach is the largest inland beach in Ohio's state park system
And in terms of scenery, we have a great Metro Park System with plenty of beautiful meadows, ravines, waterways, and waterfalls. Plus, we have the five reservoirs (Alum Creek, Delaware Lake, Hoover, Griggs and O'Shaughnessy) for different water activities.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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Andrew Hall wrote >>
That kind of dodges the question though - what makes you choose City A over City B?I agree that there is usually one initial impetus, typically an event that would set the trip in motion... but my point was more about how people don't really care about big nationally-recognizable landmarks anymore. I can't recall the last time I heard anyone say that they wanted to go to NYC because they had never seen the Statue of Liberty, or that they needed to book a flight to St. Louis so that they could finally get that photo/tshirt/pin/coffeemug/mousepad of the Gateway Arch.
Posted 3 years ago # -
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Is that picture photoshopped?
I get your point, but more than water and sand "going to the beach" implies a certain environment (beach culture, if you will) that's hard to recreate.
It's still gorgeous though. I want to go to there!!
Posted 3 years ago # -
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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Andrew Hall wrote >>
Walker wrote
When I visit other cities, it's usually to take in their "local" scene. Explore what they have to offer in terms of local art, local music, local restaurants, local bars, local nightlife, local neighborhoods, etc.That kind of dodges the question though - what makes you choose City A over City B? That is what determines tourism marketing decisions.
In most cases for pure leisure travel, there is an initial impetus to visit someplace - a major attraction, a traveling exhibit of note, a sporting event, convention, natural resource. What then detemines whether people pull the trigger (if they are on the fence in choices or just in going) are the additional aspects you describe and if they are significant compared to other choices.
A.for my family, all food choices being equal, it's what performances or exhibits are in City A v City B.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Andrew Hall
Dennison Place (The Circles)
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Walker wrote >>
Andrew Hall wrote >>
That kind of dodges the question though - what makes you choose City A over City B?I agree that there is usually one initial impetus, typically an event that would set the trip in motion... but my point was more about how people don't really care about big nationally-recognizable landmarks anymore. I can't recall the last time I heard anyone say that they wanted to go to NYC because they had never seen the Statue of Liberty, or that they needed to book a flight to St. Louis so that they could finally get that photo/tshirt/pin/coffeemug/mousepad of the Gateway Arch.
Does tourism numbers and dollars reflect this or is this your intuition/personal take?
A.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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Andrew Hall wrote >>
Does tourism numbers and dollars reflect this or is this your intuition/personal take?Nothing more than a personal anecdote. Same sort of conversational piece as anyone saying that Columbus needs an ocean or lake or a big ol' Arc de Triomphe. Just havin a chat...
Posted 3 years ago # -
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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OMG, yes, I'd travel miles (5 to be exact) for that prime rib ;)
Posted 3 years ago # -
Mercurius
First Avenue
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The current Columbus Foundation ad on WCBE basically says, Columbus, home of the best science education museum, library and zoo in the nation. Comfest is pretty unique in terms of music festivals. I think the sheer amount of festivals we have in unique and certainly Agora and Independents Day have a chance to draw out of state interest. The Darby Creek is unique in terms of diversity. A bit further out, Hocking Hills and really the entire terminus of the prehistoric glaciers through southern Ohio made some really unique landscapes. I'd say just about every day I see a photo from that region in the most popular photos of the day section of Flickr and there really is no where else with an eastern deciduous forest and those sand stone cliffs and waterfalls. Malabar Farms and Amish country are pretty unique.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Andrew Hall
Dennison Place (The Circles)
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Walker wrote >>
Andrew Hall wrote >>
Does tourism numbers and dollars reflect this or is this your intuition/personal take?Nothing more than a personal anecdote. Same sort of conversational piece as anyone saying that Columbus needs an ocean or lake or a big ol' Arc de Triomphe. Just havin a chat...
I was hoping you had some real information. What you say goes against the numbers I've seen. For example, national park attendance hit a near record ('87 being higher) last year despite the economy.
A.
Posted 3 years ago # -
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Andrew Hall wrote >>
Walker wrote >>
Andrew Hall wrote >>
Does tourism numbers and dollars reflect this or is this your intuition/personal take?Nothing more than a personal anecdote. Same sort of conversational piece as anyone saying that Columbus needs an ocean or lake or a big ol' Arc de Triomphe. Just havin a chat...
I was hoping you had some real information. What you say goes against the numbers I've seen. For example, national park attendance hit a near record ('87 being higher) last year despite the economy.
A.How was that destination chosen? Did someone research good deals, find a city, and then match what attractions were nearby? Or was the national park chosen and the vacation planned around that?
Posted 3 years ago # -
Andrew Hall
Dennison Place (The Circles)
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Mercurius wrote >>
The current Columbus Foundation ad on WCBE basically says, Columbus, home of the best science education museum, library and zoo in the nation. Comfest is pretty unique in terms of music festivals. I think the sheer amount of festivals we have in unique and certainly Agora and Independents Day have a chance to draw out of state interest. The Darby Creek is unique in terms of diversity. A bit further out, Hocking Hills and really the entire terminus of the prehistoric glaciers through southern Ohio made some really unique landscapes. I'd say just about every day I see a photo from that region in the most popular photos of the day section of Flickr and there really is no where else with an eastern deciduous forest and those sand stone cliffs and waterfalls. Malabar Farms and Amish country are pretty unique.Unique is like pregnant - you are or you aren't! :-)
Uniqueness can be a necessary condition, but is seldom sufficient. By careful selection of criteria, anything is unique. ("We are all snowflakes" thinking) You can say both Yosemite and Darby Creek are unique but it is not hard to figure out what other qualities causes one to be a bigger draw than the other.
How is our library a tourist draw? Quality of life, yes. Visitors ...
A.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Andrew Hall
Dennison Place (The Circles)
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somertimeoh wrote >>
Andrew Hall wrote >>
Walker wrote >>
Andrew Hall wrote >>
Does tourism numbers and dollars reflect this or is this your intuition/personal take?Nothing more than a personal anecdote. Same sort of conversational piece as anyone saying that Columbus needs an ocean or lake or a big ol' Arc de Triomphe. Just havin a chat...
I was hoping you had some real information. What you say goes against the numbers I've seen. For example, national park attendance hit a near record ('87 being higher) last year despite the economy.
A.How was that destination chosen? Did someone research good deals, find a city, and then match what attractions were nearby? Or was the national park chosen and the vacation planned around that?
I suspect it varies. The Blue Ridge Pkwy gets huge numbers based on being proximate to significant population base. Yosemite or Yellowstone clearly require a special trip.
A.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Columbusite
Minneapolis
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In reality, all of them basically offer the same things: they're cities. Cities have landmarks with varying degrees of popularity, but they really serve as a stepping stone for checking out urban neighborhoods: restaurants, bars, shopping, etc. The better they are for pedestrians the better they are for tourists.
Regarding transportation, we may at the very least have the best unmarked bike network (our roads) in the nation: if you know how to use them properly (I'm always available for a 1st hand lesson). It's very easy to go from neighborhood to neighborhood. Hell, biking out to the western fringe of the city along Sullivant on the taco truck tour was a cinch and not nearly as time-consuming or stressful as one would think. In fact, Sullivant was home to a Mexican-Cambodian restaurant; a google search for "mexican cambodian restaurant" yields only one restaurant in Columbus. Where's NYC, Chicago, and San Fran in those results?
Where we are lackluster from a visitor's and resident's viewpoint, I wouldn't say "generic", is that we're all about High St and focusing solely on the already revitalized neighborhoods along this stretch. We have basically learned none of the lessons from the gentrification of the Short North and how to apply that elsewhere: we've forgotten how we got from "there" to "here". By all means, Parsons and W Broad should already be rather happening places with their inexpensive homes and affordable commercial spaces combined with crime that pales in comparison to the WIP that was the Short North, but the reality is that there's only a handful of reasons to go to either as a result of our short-term memory. Even worse is what's happening to Cleveland and Main. There is so much potential that is disappearing as those vacant commercial buildings go down one by one. Unlike attempting to revitalize a dense, blighted, crime-ridden street in one of our largest cities where you have to deal with several multi-story buildings on just one block and with it a much higher number of criminals: here you would bring back the equivalent of several blocks of single-family homes along with adjoining commercial blocks where available. Add to that the downtown, which many equate with the city itself (Downtown Columbus = Columbus) and our image problem becomes easier to understand.
In other large cities popular with visitors you can usually find numerous substantial commercial streets rather than just one. German Village, the Short North, and Old North Columbus are all great places and I'd enjoy them if I were passing through and wanted to experience what urban Columbus has to offer, but there needs to be more neighborhoods at the top of their game. With the high number of out-of-towners that make up our population you'd think we'd have them by now since nothing we have comes close to South Philly or some of the south-side neighborhoods of Chicago or LA.
Posted 3 years ago #
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