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First of all Minnesota defines a lake as being over 10 acres where as Wisconsin defines a lake as 5 acres. Minnesota's top 8 largest lakes are larger than all of Wisconsin's lakes combined.. If going by 5 acres to define a lake than Minnesota has way over 20,000 lakes.
Either way, 35,000 lakes to the North and Northwest of Chicago is certainly not a bad thing.
It's only a matter of time before the word gets out that Chicago is cheaper, more beautiful, and friendlier than NYC.
While I think Chicago is more beatiful, that isn't fact though.
And while I prefer Chicago to NYC, the cities are not really comparable in regards to tourism and the tourist experience they give.
I would say that Chicago is more of a threat to cities like Las Vegas and LA as I have found most international tourists almost always prefer Chicago over those two cities after visiting.
And the fact that Chicago doesn't receive comparable international tourism as even cities like Boston would make it a "threat" how exactly?
I will say Chicago is becoming more well known globally though as destination. I wouldn't say it's a threat, but I am seeing more and more international tourists here every year. Just right now when I went to lunch I bumped into some Italian tourists, some French Tourists and Brazilian tourists. And I only walked about 3 blocks.
My mom hosts several international students (she has 7 right now) and they all LOVE Chicago and you can imagine when they go back to their countries they are going to promote that. Almost all of them prefer Chicago over LA and actually like it better than NYC too (although they find NYC more exciting).
My point is that Chicago in the last decade has really invested in boosting it's tourism, internationally as well, as it's starting to make postive impacts from what I can see.
Also I believe Chicago as an international destination is severely underrated.
It makes me sad to see the international tourists numbers so much higher in places like Orlando and Las Vegas compared to places like Chicago, Boston and New Orleans. Cities that really offer a lot more and really are destinations.
Orlando got lucky that Disney World got built there and Las Vegas is just so tacky. I went once and had fun, but if I was in another country visiting the U.S. it would be on the bottom of my list.
And the fact that Chicago doesn't receive comparable international tourism as even cities like Boston would make it a "threat" how exactly?
Because word of mouth is a pretty big thing.....two Chinese families take a trip, one to NYC, one to Chicago......upon returning to China they compare their photos, experiences, and costs.
NYC has the advantage of near monopolistic control of America's global image......but that's not enough to keep the world ignorant.
Beijing more or less controls China's image....but I'd rather go to Shanghai, Nanjing and Chengdu (been to all four btw). Where would you rather go? Beijing?
It's only a matter of time before the word gets out that Chicago is cheaper, more beautiful, and friendlier than NYC.
… I don't think so.
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