Tourism in Philly (Philadelphia, Chester, Washington: neighborhood, airport, safety)

[MikeNigh]

What do you think Philly could do to improve tourism to the city? To my understanding tourism is still grossly low compared to similar US cities in importance, size, GDP, culture etc.

[pman]

Germantown is a huge under capitalized asset

[MB1562]

Get rid of Philadelphia's image as a giant ghetto to the outside world. Once people realize that its actually a nice place with a lot of stuff, they'll flock. Luckily Philadelphia is already doing this so we're moving in the right direction.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MikeNigh

What do you think Philly could do to improve tourism to the city? To my understanding tourism is still grossly low compared to similar US cities in importance, size, GDP, culture etc.

They should do an ad campaign in Europe.

[rainrock]

Change the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro to Philadelphia-Valley Forge-South Jersey-Northern Delaware metro. Camden especially has a terrible connotation connected to it.

Also In the summer I always thought this general area sold itself woefully short. The South Jersey resorts like Cape May market themselves to Philadelphia and South Jersey whereas it should be Philadelphia,South jersey,Cape May Wildwood etc in unison should be marketing themselves nationally and internationally, especially into Canada. Come spend a summer vacation in Philadlephia/Cape May/Wildwood

Clean up South Broad Street, get the parked cars out of the middle of the street. Quite possibly the most archaic , parochial scene in this country is the stacked parked cars in the middle of Broad Street, its so Philadelphia. And For cripes sake do something with those 2 trash filled lots at Broad + Washington.


It wouldnt hurt to try and spruce up key areas.

You drive in from the airport and Bam you are immediately hit with the Philly Funk. Sewage treat
ment plant,oil refineries,junk yards,mount metal etc etc. It is heavy. I dont know what the answer is but they need to make that ride in from the airport a little more touristy and a lot less toxic.

[Mimidae]

Clean up the section of I-95 that goes past the city, as well as a few miles north and south. It makes the city look trashier than it actually is, to people passing through. That would be such a monumental project, but if I could wave a magic wand... (oh - I see Rainrock pretty much said the same).

Improve public transportation (which is not bad, but some comparable cities definitely have better, more extensive, intuitive, and tourist-friendly systems).

Make more of the waterfront accessible / interesting.

Improve the safety of bike lanes - encourage tourists to use those snazzy new blue bikes.

Have younger residents drop the anti-tourist snobbishness they sometimes exhibit.

Keep authentic neighborhood character (keep it weird!) as much as possible. This is a draw as much as the historical sites.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by Hallouise

Clean up the section of I-95 that goes past the city, as well as a few miles north and south. It makes the city look trashier than it actually is, to people passing through. That would be such a monumental project, but if I could wave a magic wand... (oh - I see Rainrock pretty much said the same).

95 in Delaware is immaculate. You hit the Pa border thru Chester and its like driving 50 years in the past. Its surreal how badly kept it is thru Chester. Arguably the worst stretch anywhere of I-95 .

Once you get into Ridley and the airport its not too bad until you get to the schuylkill bridges and then Philadelphias industry hits you over the head. Maybe some banners on the bridges , maybe a public sculpture here and there might help hide the visual pollution of SW Philly.

[southbound_295]

The best ad campaign that they ever ran was young Kevin Bacon on a skateboard.

Barring putting up a giant curtain to screen out Camden, they should do an updated version of the Kevin Bacon ad.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MikeNigh

What do you think Philly could do to improve tourism to the city? To my understanding tourism is still grossly low compared to similar US cities in importance, size, GDP, culture etc.

Doesn't the city get something like 20 million tourists a year?

Sure more could be done but it's the same old problem: proximity to NYC and Wash. DC. Tourists, especially Americans, have limited vacation time so they have to make hard choices.

What Phila really needs to do is try to attract more European and Asian tourists. FWIW, I did see a huge number of Asian tourists walking through Dilworth Park yesterday.

Nutter has made foreign trips just to attract foreign business and, by association, tourists. Hopefully the new mayor will see the value in repeating this.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by pman

Germantown is a huge under capitalized asset

You're right about that. Do any of those blipping Tea Party "patriots" know ANYTHING about the Battle of Germantown?!