Travel &Leisure's 'America's Favorite Cities' (Atl's not one of them) (Atlanta: crime, hotels)

[DTL3000]

America's Favorite Cities 2010 - Atlanta - Travel + Leisure

Atlanta cracked the top 10 in only one category(business hotels) and finished middle of the road to near rock bottom in almost every category.

Womp Wommmmp...

I can't say I think Atlanta is a great tourist destination but is it really this bad compared to everywhere else?

[aries4118]

Then why is this posted in the Atlanta Forum?

[testa50]

Not sure how people came up with these answers.

Savannah and Portland have better ethnic restaurants?
New Orleans has better big name luxury hotels? That one's objectively false.
Less public transit and pedestrian friendliness than Nashville, Pheonix, and Anchorage?
Worse skyline than Providence?
Less diverse than Portland and Bsoton? These are objectively false as well.

I guess people just hate Atlanta, because most of these positions are pretty much indefensible. The idea that more than a handful of people in the entire country have anywhere near enough information to rank 30 or so cities on metrics as obscure as 'antique stores' is laughable.

I admit Atlanta isn't one of America's premier tourist destinations by any stretch, but the survey has some pretty absurd results. It just looks like a "pick your favorite tourist destination for every category regardless of whether it makes any sense" survey.

[DTL3000]

Originally Posted by testa50

Not sure how people came up with these answers.

Savannah and Portland have better ethnic restaurants?
New Orleans has better big name luxury hotels? That one's objectively false.
Less public transit and pedestrian friendliness than Nashville, Pheonix, and Anchorage?
Worse skyline than Providence?
Less diverse than Portland and Austin? These are objectively false as well.

I guess people just hate Atlanta, because most of these positions are pretty much indefensible. The idea that more than a handful of people in the entire country have anywhere near enough information to rank 30 or so cities on metrics as obscure as antique stores is laughable.

I admit Atlanta isn't one of America's premier tourist destinations by any stretch, but the survey has some pretty absurd results. It just looks like a "pick your favorite tourist destination for every category regardless of whether it makes any sense" survey.

Exactly. I make no bones about not being crazy about Atlanta but I'm surprised at a lot of the results. Some surprise me while others don't.

I mean...
26th in intelligence?
27th in cleanliness?
29th in cultural getaway?
29th in joints and cafes?

It is a weird survey but if it's true it looks like this city has a long way to go to be the tourist destination it keeps claiming to be.

And Aries, I did it to **** people like you off...

[testa50]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

Exactly. I make no bones about not being crazy about Atlanta but I'm surprised at a lot of the results. Some surprise me while others don't.

I mean...
26th in intelligence?
27th in cleanliness?
29th in cultural getaway?
29th in joints and cafes?

It is a weird survey but if it's true it looks like this city has a long way to go to be the tourist destination it keeps claiming to be.

And Aries, I did it to **** people like you off...

The poll is by definition a popularity contest, so perhaps the problem isn't too much boosterism, but too little. Better put it in high gear, folks!

And I missed the cultural getaway category. How in the world does Salt Lake beat us here? Anchorage? Savannah? Providence? Portland? (and Portland, Maine?) Denver? Kansas City? Memphis? I guess I must not have any idea what a cultural getaway is.

[testa50]

Also, gotta love that they just plain left off Detroit. I mean, whatever. Who cares if 5 million people live there? We don't want to be reminded that it exists. America has spoken!

[BringBackCobain]

People have a negative view of the city. It's the result of our less than stellar image in popular culture and our reputation for crime and thuggery. Lets be serious - Atlanta needs a major image makeover. I dont think its as bad as Detroit though. What kind of score did Baltimore and St. Louis get? I would expect Americans view of Atlanta to be closer to those instead of Denver. Denver or Seattle would be a good goal for us. We'll never be on the same level of favoritism as a place like Boston though.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

...
And Aries, I did it to **** people like you off...

As I thought...

[johnatl]

What people need to remember is that the LARGE majority of T&L subscribers and readers are NYC residents.

American Express owns this publication, are HQ'd in NYC, derive most of their card and massive global travel agency revenue in NYC, and drive the opinions and articles contained within T&L from NYC.

Given this, please form your own opinion of these "surveys." This is really nothing more than a very wealthy and narrowly skewed, provincial observation of the world from a NYC-centric viewpoint. I rate it about a 4 out of 10 on the "real world" scale.

I personally give it less weight than the often derided and endless Forbes lists we are all subjected to on a regular basis.

[blondandfun]

I can name 10 beach towns in California that are better than Savannah or Charleston that aren't on this list. I'm so sick and tired of population being the only factor that gets a city on these lists and surveys. Everyone knows that poor people and mostly minorities have a higher birth rate, so I don't know why anyone in their right mind cares how large a city's population is.