Great article on why Houston is still unknown as a global city (Austin: neighborhoods, top school)

[3shipguy]

To some, one of the requirements to be a global city is being a tourist destination. Houston has great amenities for its residents... but nothing attractive enough for travelers to book a flight 2000 miles away and stay at world class resorts. In this regard, I agree with ipuck. IMO, Houston will never be a great tourist destination. It is handicapped by its location, topography, climate and history. Aside from events (eg Superbowls, Final Fours, etc.), would anyone really plan to vacation here for a week to visit the sites Houston has to offer? Would you fly here to go to Memorial Park/Discovery Green when there's a Central Park in NY or Golden Gate Park in SF? Would you go to Galveston when there's Florida beaches right across the Gulf? You might argue that NOLA has the same climate and topography as Houston. Well, NOLA has more history and culture just in the French Quarters. It's uniqueness is what separates it from Houston. Would you fly here to party in Midtown or Washington when you can go to South Beach or Vegas? Houston has a good theater and museum district for its residents but not when compared to places like NY or even LA for that matter (ie, tourist wouldn't flock here just to experience the arts here). There is nothing iconic about Houston other than the Astrodome and we all know how polarizing that eyesore can be. Houston is flat, humid, and run by O&G. It provides a lot of jobs and offers southern hospitality. Its low COL provides a great place to put down your roots and raise a family. I'm not going to pretend its something its not. Global or not, it's home for me.

With that said, please don't tell me to leave.

And ipuck, NYC is only the center of the universe in NYers eyes. Go travel internationally and visit other metros. It's an eye-opening experience.

[Oildog]

Again lets not turn this into an NYC comparison thread.

Also don't forget two other dirty industries that drive Houston...Medicine/Healthcare, and Aerospace

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

So Dubai is doomed to the same fate as Houston?

Houston is the Dubai of America, literally.

Both are oil capitals of the World, both are highly cosmopolitan, both have fast growing skylines, both are on a Gulf, & if you drew a line east to west they would be on the same latitude.

Dubai is doomed if it doesn't diversify which is exactly what they're trying to do

[Augiec]

Amen 3shipguy.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by 3shipguy

Houston will never be a great tourist destination. It is handicapped by its location, topography, climate and history.

I'm going to disagree. Imagine that.

Let's revisit NYC.

Location

NYC does have a location that gives it a lot of tourism. It is a city that is close to Europe (less flight time). It is in an area of the country that has a lot of density.

Houston is a city that is close to Central and South America (less flight time). CA and SA are continuing to grow their middle and upper classes. Those people will begin to travel even more to the US and give Houston the same type of location advantage in regards to CA and SA that NYC has for Europe. Texas is going through a prolonged density boom. Cities and towns throughout Texas are growing. Most of those cities don't compare at all to Houston in terms of culture. I'm sure some Dallas people will take offense to this, but Houston is the cultural hub of Texas.

Topography

Does NYC fail due to it's relatively flat nature? It's no SF or Denver, and as you mentioned topography doesn't hurt NOLA.

Climate

Generally speaking, Houston is the opposite side of the same coin as NYC.

Summers are uncomfortable in Houston while NYC is uncomfortable in winter.

Generally speaking March, April, early May, October, November and December are very pleasant in Houston.

History

We'll never really be able to compete against cities such as NYC in terms of history, but I feel that's a relatively small draw for most cities. It's only a handful of cities like Boston, DC, New Orleans that have a history that truly draw people and aren't just an add on.

-------------

Houston's tourism draw will be cultural. It will be people wanting to come to do the restaurants, shopping, museums, performing arts and festivals. These are all things that continue to improve in Houston from year to year and have become a true incentive to come to Houston for tourism.

Sure, it may be relatively small at the moment, but as Houston continues down the path, our draw will increase. Our domestic draw will be from people in the south and the fly-overs while our international draw will mainly be CA and SA.

Will we ever be a tourist destination the likes of NYC, SF, NOLA or Miami? Super-duper highly unlikely. Could we ever draw more tourists than San Antonio, Austin, San Diego or Charleston? Possibly. It just depends upon the continued direction Houston takes, and at this point in time, we are moving in a very positive direction.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by Oildog

Again lets not turn this into an NYC comparison thread.

Since it could be argued that NYC is the most global of all US cities, why shouldn't it factor heavily into this topic?

[ipuck]

Originally Posted by 3shipguy

And ipuck, NYC is only the center of the universe in NYers eyes. Go travel internationally and visit other metros. It's an eye-opening experience.

I actually have visited London and Paris and multiple times in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Does those qualify?

Until that day China take over the place currently occupy by US of A, NYC is generally regarded as the hub. Just like London was before NYC. It is not I like it there, is is just everything revolves around NY. All the money flow from there of course. Every fashion trend is from the garment district, and of course the media. And on and on....hack someone told me 75% of all diamonds sold in US pass through the diamond district at one point or another.

I notice even the work hours are dictated from the NY. NY start at 9, Hou start at 8, and West coast start at 7 or earlier (I am talking about general work hours for majority of people...obviously there is lot of people starting later and earlier).

You can't paid me enough to live in NYC now with their liberal politics, but you have to recognize its influence and importance to the rest of the world. There is no other city that have that kind of influence.

[3shipguy]

Ok, Pedro.

Maybe "never" is the wrong choice of word. Houston may turn into a tourist destination but not one that can compete with likes of NY, LA, SF, Miami, Vegas, etc. If Houston wants to be on the global level, it must have the attributes to be compared to these cities.

Restaurants, shopping, museums, performing arts and festivals here in Houston are great...great for locals and maybe CA and Sas (due to proximity). Speaking in general, I don't know anyone who would fly here for these things to be honest. If I was from CA and SA, I'd rather go experience these things in Miami. It's latin influence far outweighs Houston's. Heck, if you don't speak Spanish in Miami, you might be looked down upon. Go figure.

Heck, I'm all for becoming a tourist destination. It means more beautification of the city and not letting the infrastructure deteriorate. But this comes with a double edge sword. All this means is COL will increase. I don't think the powers that be care if Houston is a tourist destination. Look at what they let happen to NASA or the Astrodome. As long as O & G is good then that is all that matters.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by 3shipguy

Ok, Pedro.

Maybe "never" is the wrong choice of word. Houston may turn into a tourist destination but not one that can compete with likes of NY, LA, SF, Miami, Vegas, etc.

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

Will we ever be a tourist destination the likes of NYC, SF, NOLA or Miami? Super-duper highly unlikely. Could we ever draw more tourists than San Antonio, Austin, San Diego or Charleston? Possibly.

Originally Posted by 3shipguy

If Houston wants to be on the global level, it must have the attributes to be compared to these cities.

Specifically, why do people travel to NYC?

[Dopo]

I don't think is right to compare to NY and LA
NY will always be a global city because most of the US media is based there
LA will always be a global city because Hollywood, the biggest movie producer in the World is based there.