What are America's "destination" cities? (living, best, better)
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I'm just counting the places where tourists are the majority and there are really large crowds.
Pioneer Square is another one that gets a lot of tourists (not to mention event crowds) but it's not like throngs of tourists other than the Underground Tour groups. Ballard has the locks (hundreds of people all summer) and the National Nordic Museum, Queen Anne always has a crowd at the Kerry Park overlook, and the Olympic Sculpture Park is a thing on the Space Needle to Waterfront circuit, but those aren't at the district-level tourism scale of the big three or four (adding convention/hotel district).
Foot traffic doesn't necessarily mean "packed" which is the original comment I quoted. Unless you guys have different standards for the word "packed" I would never use thar word to describe Seattle's waterfront/ballard/shopping district/space needle and even including Pike Place especially 7 days a week. These places would never seem packed to tourists from the eastcoast, California, or anywhere overseas 7 days a week in the summer.
I'm just counting the places where tourists are the majority and there are really large crowds.
Pioneer Square is another one that gets a lot of tourists (not to mention event crowds) but it's not like throngs of tourists other than the Underground Tour groups. Ballard has the locks (hundreds of people all summer) and the National Nordic Museum, Queen Anne always has a crowd at the Kerry Park overlook, and the Olympic Sculpture Park is a thing on the Space Needle to Waterfront circuit, but those aren't at the district-level tourism scale of the big three or four (adding convention/hotel district).
Seattle is a nice place to visit. I have family there. Where are all these tourists from? I just can’t imagine anyone from Europe planning a trip to the U.S with Seattle as the destination. Are the tourists from Canada?
Seattle is a nice place to visit. I have family there. Where are all these tourists from? I just can’t imagine anyone from Europe planning a trip to the U.S with Seattle as the destination. Are the tourists from Canada?
Seattle is a nice place to visit. I have family there. Where are all these tourists from? I just can’t imagine anyone from Europe planning a trip to the U.S with Seattle as the destination. Are the tourists from Canada?
Only when the Blue Jays play the Mariners and then the stands are filled with Canadians. It is a home game for the Blue Jays.
No Canadian in their right mind would visit Seattle, instead of staying in Vancouver. Now, that is a cool city.
Seattle is a nice place to visit. I have family there. Where are all these tourists from? I just can’t imagine anyone from Europe planning a trip to the U.S with Seattle as the destination. Are the tourists from Canada?
People from Europe love our national parks. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Europeans come to see Olympic National Park or Mt. Rainier and then spend a few days exploring Seattle since they are already there.
Top Tier:
New York, Washington, Miami, Orlando, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu
2nd Tier:
Boston, Nashville, New Orleans, San Antonio, Denver, San Diego, Seattle
3rd Tier:
Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa, Jacksonville, Dallas, Austin, Salt Lake City, Phoenix
4th Tier:
Charleston, Savannah, Asheville, Memphis, Louisville/Lexington, St. Louis, Portland
And then there are various smaller resorts and touristy cities sprinkled across the country like Bar Harbor, Atlantic City, Williamsburg, Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Branson, Mackinac Island, Rapid City, Aspen, Park City, Palm Springs, etc.
I don't see Orlando (not much of a downtown - mostly amusement parks nearby) or Honolulu (most of the city is pretty blah other than Waikiki) as being anywhere close to the top tier. Boston, Nashville, New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle (and maybe Philly) are much more unique.
Foot traffic doesn't necessarily mean "packed" which is the original comment I quoted. Unless you guys have different standards for the word "packed" I would never use thar word to describe Seattle's waterfront/ballard/shopping district/space needle and even including Pike Place especially 7 days a week. These places would never seem packed to tourists from the eastcoast, California, or anywhere overseas 7 days a week in the summer.
The Pike Place Market's four-block main hallway and other popular areas can be roughly like a stadium concourse when a game lets out, except people aren't trying to leave. Like I said it's busiest on summer weekends. But parts of it are pretty packed at some point every day about April through September.
The other areas depend...Seattle Center has 30' walkways so it's only packed near the major attractions like the hundreds in line for the Space Needle. The waterfront is only packed when the walkway is cut to 15' or so as I said, defined by the need to slow down to walk through the mobs. The entire roadway has shifted about 60' to the east and the new walkway being rebuilt is much wider so it's not packed there.
PS, the point about "seven days a week" is to contrast with places where most visitors are there for business.
Seattle is a nice place to visit. I have family there. Where are all these tourists from? I just can’t imagine anyone from Europe planning a trip to the U.S with Seattle as the destination. Are the tourists from Canada?
More Asians than Europeans in my experience. And more from the US/Canada than from overseas.
An extra surge comes during the six-month cruise season when up to 18,000(?) passengers a day come through town (most Friday-Sunday), and many decide to add some nights before or after. This is a gray area in the "destination" topic since they're already coming through but deciding to stay a while. We also get a lot of returnees who come for the city.
Yes, I would consider Houston to be more of a travel destination than Dallas. Put Houston on the list and take Dallas off. It's not a travel destination. The JFK stuff is old news, its losing popularity, its not evolving and Anerica has changed. How many people visit Fords Theater?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag
JFK’s assassination sight was pretty big. I wouldn’t consider Dallas (not Houston) a major tourist draw though
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Houston
