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Unfortunately, Greenville will never achieve the same tourism status as Asheville or even Chattanooga. This is simply due to Greenville's lack of aesthetic appeal. The mountainous backdrop of both Asheville and Chattanooga are gorgeous (esp for the Southeast) - I have lived in Chattanooga (miss those mountains) - Greenville has nothing like this - yes, one can see distant mountains on clear days - but, in Chattanooga/Asheville one is in/surrounded by mountains (of course, Asheville's mountains are at a higher elevation).
Honestly, there are two main draws to Greenville/Upstate SC: 1- DT Greenville and 2- easy access to Asheville/Western NC. There are other minor draws/attractions for the Upstate: Clemson University, Lakes Keowee/Jocassee, BMW, etc. Outside of DT/city of Greenville, the Upstate IMO is bland/run-down in many areas, with significant sprawl - shopping venues are average (at best; outside of DT Greenville) and the infrastructure (esp I-85) is terrible.
Greenville needs to market itself as a "Gateway to the Blue Ridge" or something like that. But, it can't just be a free conduit to Asheville.
I've never heard of the Upstate as being run down. Anderson, Spartanburg, and everything else outside of Greenville city isn't East LA. I agree there's a good bit of blandness because everything is so spread out and sprawled, but it's pretty low density.
Asheville is cool. Greenville and Asheville could maybe do some kind of twin city marketing for regional niche travelers. Go to Asheville for a day for the mountain views and quirky, crafty bohemian style and Biltmore, then shoot down to Greenville for a day for a more modern, deluxe experience, or do them both in one.
You can expand it outside of Greenville as well. The other cities have a few things to offer scattered about. Also you left out Lake Hartwell, which is the most popular and visited lake out of the 3, and is definitely a major draw, not minor. Gaffney Outlets and the Peachoid are more of an attraction than BMW.
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Originally Posted by DSMRE
I think Greenville does well on its own. It has more people than both of those metros. It was not built to be just a tourist city or area. That's just another source along with other sources to bring more dollars to the area.
Bascially this. Greenville and the area is becoming a good regional day/weekend destination like Birmingham, but neither was built to be an Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, Myrtle Beach, etc.
If tourism is so important, Greenville could use more attractions and traps, like a Great Wolf Lodge, Margaritaville, or anything with a gift shop. But those would not add much to the area because they're not something residents would regularly use, unlike say, a new food hall or trail extensions.
The things going on downtown and around are a big deal for residents while giving regional people a reason to come explore for a bit, but I doubt the Upstate will ever become a place families from Nebraska come fly out to and spend a week.
In my view, Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville have no more tourist appeal than Greenville. I don't see the appeal of Nashville if you aren't a country music fan.
I don't think I would want to spend more than 1-2 days visiting any city.
For me, extended visits to other places have revolved around snowskiing, boating, and the beach.
I don't see much of a comparison between Greenville and Birmingham as far as weekend tourism goes, because B'ham does not have proximity to the mountains and its downtown area is not that appealing in my view.
You're probably the only one who thinks that because any objective person will tell you otherwise. I visited Nashville last year and I hate country music. Was shocked to find country music doesn't dominate Nashville culture, nor is Broadway the only happening street. Nashville has a pretty diverse culture, and the food is just as good as the music. 2nd Ave looks just like Main Street Greenville with open air music. Nashville has more pedal taverns than they do city buses, and the city is a top 5 place for bachelorette parties. My girlfriend went there for one last year. Their airport also gets 14 million passengers, including a new flight to London, and it's not a hub, like Charlotte.
Hospitality is Nashville's second largest industry and the city received over 14.5 million visitors last year, and leisure travel was 30% of the tourism, with over $5.4 billion in direct spending just from that. Nashville also had the longest streak of growth in hotel rooms sold in the nation from 2010 to 2016. Nashville is 4th in the country in current hotel projects. It's strongly appealing, and unlike "twin" city Charlotte, has a pretty clear identity for tourists.
Charleston is quite obvious. It and Savannah still hold down the old south allure, it's a major place of history, and beaches can't be beat. People come as far away as Utah. International travelers accounted for 9.2% in 2014. It's been voted #1 in the world because of perceived appeal, not Marion Square.
Atlanta is clearly the hub of the south. World of Coke, GA Aquarium, CFB HOF, Fox Theater, High Museum, Benz stadium, CNN Center, Centennial Park, Six Flags, MLK, Ponce Market, the list goes on and on. I went to the Peachdrop 2 (?) New Years' ago and the family standing next to us was from China. 1.2 million people visited Atlanta from outside the US last year, which is the almost the entire population of the Upstate. It's a top 10 most visited city, and it's not because of airport connections, which aren't counted. You cannot objectively say Greenville is just as much of a appealing tourist destination as Atlanta, or any of the others, unless you're talking strictly you.
You may not want to spend more than 2 days in any city, but that's you. People don't go from Pennsylvania to Myrtle Beach to spend 2 days. There's too much do in Atlanta for 2 days. That's even hard for many festivals since many of them last at least a weekend. Charleston's Spoleto is 3 weeks.
Birmingham is becoming a recognized foodie city like Greenville and is undergoing an active transformation in their urban core, including Railroad Park, Regions Field, Pizitz Food Hall, Five Points, a new urban Topgolf, etc. It's not enough to get northeast families to come down for a week, but it's enough to get regional people who used to skip it to actually come spend a day.
Charleston, Nashville, and Atlanta didn't just spring up and say "let's do tourism", it's been ingrained in their culture, growth, and economies from the start. Like DSMRE said, that's not what Greenville grew to be, which is not a bad thing.
Nashville has a lot to do beyond just country music and has a much bigger tourist appeal than Greenville.
Atlanta is huge and has tons of tourist attractions including top tier sports teams, Coke headquarters, Six Flags, major concert venues, and a lot more.
Greenville is nice, particularly for its size but saying it has as much tourist appeal as Nashville and Atlanta is just absurd.
Ok, that's your opinion. I couldn't spend more than 1-2 days in any city. I would say big city fans and Charleston fans are perhaps not objective in this kind of discussion, given I was accused of not being objective. Obviously everybody has different preferences and interests. City tourism is not about trying to appeal to everybody.
I could go to football game, SIx FLags, Stone Mountain, aquarium, etc in 2 days time so you aren't refuting my point. I went to Clemson so visiting Greenville during a home football game weekend would be more desirable than going to NFL game in Atlanta. Probably not even 1 percent of Americans regularly attend pro sport events.
Stone Mountain is Atlanta's best tourist attraction in my view and it is 25-30 miles outside of the downtown area. I have gone to Stone Mountain several times over the years without visiting downtown ATL.
If a person wants a quaint downtown vibe, he or she can't get that in downtown Atlanta in my view. It is basically a big office park. Greenville has a downtown atmosphere that is pretty rare with the waterfall and hardwoods. That is what the two articles that I linked are talking about.
Most people don't care much about history. The last thing I want to do on my free time is go tour a slave plantation in Charleston and I probably read more history related books and websites than the average person. I could probably do all the history stuff in Charleston in a day. I have stayed in Charleston area for a week but that was about the beach, not the downtown area. I could spend a couple of days in downtown Charleston with no problem but I do not see any reason to stay longer than that.
The Upstate has a ton of history. One example is the entire downtown of Pendleton is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Upstate was as 'old south' as the lowcountry in the past. Clemson's campus is located on a former slave plantation and the mansion is at the center of campus and it is open for tours.
I don't agree with you about Nashville. Not near a beach or mountains. I looked at it on Google maps street view and it had no visual appeal to me. I would much rather go to Nooga or Knoxville, or somewhere in the Smokies. If you stay in Greenville for a weekend, you got proximity to things to do in the Blue Ridge to include Jocassee and Keowee.
I doubt that there are many people who have visited Atlanta or Nashville more than 2 days, if they visited at all. I have gone to concerts and football games and theme parks in various cities but I left immediately after attending the event and did not spend the night in those cities. I wouldn't call that tourism related to the city because if I could have seen or done the event in a city closer to my house, I would have chosen to go there instead.
I would imagine if somebody stays in downtown Greenville for the weekend is because the downtown was the main attraction.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 01-26-2018 at 12:51 PM..
It's my opinion but I was also stating objective facts using actual numbers from various sources and bureaus. You maybe can't spend more than 2 days in a city, but you're not the norm.
I wouldn't expect someone in Clemson to run to Atlanta all the time for tourism so I'm not sure what you're even trying to imply there. Tourists destinations aren't supposed to be places you run back and forth too. Greenville is, so I agree, a Clemson student would clearly spend more time in Greenville.
Stone Mountain is an Atlanta attraction, not sure why distance matters. It's 12 miles from downtown and much of the allure is being able to see downtown from it. Atlanta attractions exist outside of downtown. The Porsche experience is not there, Lenox Mall, Piedmont Park, Six Flags, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Sugarloaf Mills, Fernbank Museum, Delta Museum, the CFA Dwarf House, Atlanta History Center, Kennesaw Mountain, the future family sports complex, Lake Lanier, the Chattahoochee River, the list goes on.
Atlanta may not have a quaint downtown, but Marietta, Decatur, College Park, and plenty of the other towns do. If you're a tourist, you can get to Decatur and College Park on Marta trains. Downtown Atlanta has always been the epicenter and has plenty of non worker street activity. There's a couple major developments in the works to bring in even more activity. And Midtown is not downtown.
Saying most people don't care about history is wrong, and again, can be seen through objective tourism numbers of cities and historic attractions. Charleston, Savannah, St Augustine, Philadelphia, Boston, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, San Francisco, San Antonio, Great Smokies, Washington DC, New Orleans, Williamsburg, Santa Fe, NYC, Atlanta, Wilmington, Chicago, Charlottesville, Flagstaff, Death Valley (the real one), Galveston, Annapolis, the list goes on.
The Liberty Bell received 2.3 million visitors last year, more than GSP. The Castillo fort in St Augustine received 800,000 including me. 8 million people visit the Lincoln Memorial.
You can't look at a place on Google Maps and say it "has no appeal" lol wow. I've actually been to Nashville and experienced the atmosphere, and when I walked on 2nd Avenue, the first thing that came to my mind was "this is Greenville."
There's more to life than mountains, but that clearly doesn't matter to the city's tourism considering they still had 14.5 million visitors last year, compared to 13.9 million in 2016. Nashville also has a couple lakes of their own, much closer than Greenville is to Hartwell or Keowee, plus the large Cumberland River, which you can kayak on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClemVegas
I doubt that there are many people who have visited Atlanta or Nashville more than 2 days, if they visited at all. I wouldn't call that tourism related to the city because if I could have seen or done the event in a city closer to my house, I would have chosen to go there instead.
I guess you skipped over the part where 1.2 million international tourists visited Atlanta last year. You seriously believe they flew all the way from the UK, Taiwan, India, Australia, and Germany (all top 10) just to stay 1-2 days? You realize if that was the case, you'd spend almost as much time, if not more, in airports and on the plane in the air, as you would in the city.
Football games and theme parks are considered tourism...just because you can do it in various places does not affect the metrics or make it not tourism, and that's not my opinion. If they don't count, then neither do forts, food halls, national and state parks, historic houses, casinos, water parks, shopping and dining districts, festivals, the Grand Canyon, or Greenville hosting the NCAA tournament, since these are not unique. If it brings outside visitors, it's tourism. The games bring visitors, who spend money in the local economy, and they see sights.
Nashville festivals played a big role in the boost, and they're not 1 day festivals. Bachelorette groups don't go for one day. Doens't make sense to open up the airport to Brits if they're only going to fly in Tuesday then fly back out Wednesday, which is a 9 hr flight...
Problem is you tell other people they don't make my schedule, yet you basically make everybody else's. You think just because you find this appealing or since you don't need 2 days in this city, no one else does. That's not how it works. These aren't my opinions, I've given you actual numbers. It should also be unbias common sense.
You don't become a top 10 tourism destination, welcome 1.2 million international folks, receive a #1 destination ranking, or rank 4th in hotel projects off of day trips.
Having been here on and off for over ten years now, I never considered Greenville to be much of a tourist destination. Heck, when we first visited, it was hard to find a local T-shirt! It's a great small city, and plenty to do for day-trippers, but I can't see flying long distance and spending a week here unless you have relatives or other business. That being said, I'm not much of a city person, and am firmly in the '1 or 2 day visit' camp. For me, Greenville is a great place to live, and part of that appeal is that it's not too overwhelmed with tourists. I'm originally from a coastal community in CT where the population tripled in the summer months. Then, I lived in FL for 30 years (no explanation necessary). We love this area, especially where we are in north Greenville County. Downtown is only 15 miles away, but we can retreat to the boonies for peace and quiet. I can just barely tolerate a few hours of Artisphere or Fall For Greenville before I need to get away from the crowds.
After living in a couple of "tourist destinations", having Greenville become one would mean the total destruction of nearly everything that attracts folks to the area. The unsolicited friendliness, easy pace of life and general southern ambiance doesn't blend well with rude strangers crowding the streets and demanding "southern hospitality".... something else that vanishes with dependence on tourist dollars.
I can't quite grasp that there are those who think Greenville is somehow lacking because it's not as big as Charlotte or Atlanta. The smaller size and slower pace of things are exactly the quaint charms that has attracted the extended influx we've been experiencing. It's what has always brought be back and kept me calling it "Home" for six decades. We're already losing these essentials at a rapid pace, as the population rapidly grows. It's happening at such a pace that I'm now hearing its loss being lamented by people who moved hear only a few years ago.
I'm pleased that our skyline doesn't dominate the horizon and I-85 is not jammed with amusement park traffic. We're a small /medium sized working town that provides a lot of good jobs and great places to enjoy a pleasant life. I hope to never see it grow beyond providing all of the things that, when properly blended, generate a nicely balanced quality of life.
After living in a couple of "tourist destinations", having Greenville become one would mean the total destruction of nearly everything that attracts folks to the area. The unsolicited friendliness, easy pace of life and general southern ambiance doesn't blend well with rude strangers crowding the streets and demanding "southern hospitality".... something else that vanishes with dependence on tourist dollars.
I can't quite grasp that there are those who think Greenville is somehow lacking because it's not as big as Charlotte or Atlanta. The smaller size and slower pace of things are exactly the quaint charms that has attracted the extended influx we've been experiencing.
I'm pleased that our skyline doesn't dominate the horizon and I-85 is not jammed with amusement park traffic. We're a small /medium sized working town that provides a lot of good jobs and great places to enjoy a pleasant life. I hope to never see it grow beyond providing all of the things that, when properly blended, generate a nicely balanced quality of life.
I don't feel that tourism completely destroys the hospitality and ambiance of a place. Using Nashville again, Broadway may be roudy and packed with pedal taverns and screaming drunk bachelorettes, but go into 2nd Ave, 12 South, Gulch, and the West End neighborhoods and it's a different, more relaxing and Main Street Greenville-esque ballgame. Many residents avoid Broadway for that reason, yet still get good enjoyment elsewhere. I think there's a difference between a place that handles tourism, like Nashville, and a place that solely depends on it, like Panama City, Times Square, Vegas.
Otherwise I totally agree. That was the point I made a a page or so ago. Greenville isn't built to handle 15 million visitors a year, nor does it need to be, nor should you want it to be. Everything going in is quality options for residents, like Greenville's growing foodie exposure. Landing those small scale restaurants is better than landing Margaritavilles, Bubba Gumps, Rainforest Cafes, and Planet Hollywoods, which is what brings the tourists in. Every time Greenville gets a new place it gets locals excited. When Myrtle gets a new trap, it does nothing for the residents other than provide some sales jobs.
Greenville purposefully markets itself as a "small, quaint alternative" because people look at that 66k population and say "wow that's charming!" Even if it's a lie, they're still satisfied at having an Atlanta or Charlotte alternative.
Greenville may not have the strong history pull, worldwide appeal, or plethora of family options, but Gville is doing big things on it's own. You have people in Charlotte wanting to come down and spend a day, and that's what you should want. Nothing wrong with not being a week stay city. All that matters is that you're getting people to come spend their dollars without the need of traps.
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