Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > World
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
View Poll Results: Which does Toronto resemble most?
London 1 1.22%
Queens, NY 12 14.63%
Philadelphia 5 6.10%
Buffalo 4 4.88%
Chicago 55 67.07%
Los Angeles 1 1.22%
San Francisco 4 4.88%
Voters: 82. You may not vote on this poll

Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-30-2015, 11:19 AM
Status: "Wishing all the best of health and peace!" (set 16 hours ago)
 
43,380 posts, read 44,098,420 times
Reputation: 20425

Advertisements

Toronto does not resemble London, Queens, NY, Los Angeles or San Francisco. I don't know Philadelphia well enough to make a comparison. I also doubt that it resembles Chicago although I don't know Chicago at all and I have no idea about Buffalo.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-30-2015, 11:41 PM
 
Location: Kitchener
86 posts, read 126,176 times
Reputation: 64
Quote:
Originally Posted by fusion2 View Post
Toronto does get a lot of American visitors (which is great!)... With that said, Toronto still gets more Non American International visitors to it than Chicago does total International visitors (whose numbers don't exclude Canadian from International like our number excludes American from International).. If the numbers did than the difference would be even greater in Toronto's favour in terms of Non-American/Canadian national visitors but the difference is not as great if you include American. In terms of total visitors including domestic than Chicago rips Toronto to shreds (almost 2:1 46 million vs 25 million) but to be expected as the U.S Midwest is almost two times the population of all Canada and Chicago is THE city in the U.S Midwest no doubt.. With that said Toronto is seen as the more primate city in Canada (and the most visited across the board in the nation) than Chicago would be in the U.S which ranks below other American heavyweights.
That makes sense. I would love to actually see the stats. Cause short of New York, and maybe Los Angeles, Toronto kills any other American city in the number of international tourists it receives, by a long shot. Chicago, though big and developed, still seems like a provincial town. Not the kind of place that would reel in international tourists. It's not really marketed for that. Toronto, being the multi-cultural hub it is, plus the fact that it is Canada's primate city, it stands to reason.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2015, 12:42 AM
 
Location: Toronto
15,106 posts, read 15,763,340 times
Reputation: 5196
Quote:
Originally Posted by billsfan1990 View Post
That makes sense. I would love to actually see the stats. Cause short of New York, and maybe Los Angeles, Toronto kills any other American city in the number of international tourists it receives, by a long shot. Chicago, though big and developed, still seems like a provincial town. Not the kind of place that would reel in international tourists. It's not really marketed for that. Toronto, being the multi-cultural hub it is, plus the fact that it is Canada's primate city, it stands to reason.
Depends on what is considered International and what constitutes a visit ie overnight vs day visit.. In 2013 - article below - Toronto welcomed a total of 14 million overnight visitors (Total is 25-27 million - maybe a bit more total visitors including day trips)

For overnight tourist visits the split is

2.18 million American visitors vs 1.42 million overseas visitors for a technical total of 3.60 million International overnight visitors..

International visitors lead Toronto to new tourism records in 2013 - Toronto | Globalnews.ca

For the exact same year 2013 Chicago had 1.38 million International visitors and 48 million domestic visitors (Chicago actually exceeds NYC for domestic visitation believe it or not and as I said - it is THE city in a very populated Mid-west U.S)

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...-champagne-yet

Now as I mentioned before it would appear Chicago doesn't separate Canadian tourists from overseas (or they may lump us into domestic though i'd be surprised), nor by the looks of it do they distinguish International day visitors vs overnight like Toronto does at least in the sources i'm looking at..

So while yes Toronto exceeds Chicago's international visitor numbers and including Americans which technically an American is foreign than Toronto easily trumps Chicago - excluding Americans to Toronto than it becomes more even though Toronto is still ahead but not by a whole lot..

As for what you are saying vs other U.S cities well no - You'd be surprised how many International visitors go to such cities as Orlando, Miami, Las Vegas, S.F (NYC and L.A are very strong with NYC easily number 1) for example.. I'd say Toronto is probably in the top 7-8 for International visitors to Canamerica.. Number 1 in Canada but lags behind more than just NYC and L.A in Canamerica.. Remember the U.S is far more well known internationally than Canada is and Chicago is simply not a big International tourist city in the U.S compared to its heavyweights.. For example Orlando had 650K Brazilian visitors alone last year (1.1 million Canadian so in many U.S cities like our own we are each our biggest source of visitors though someone like NOLA would exclude Canadians as not counting because well to him Canada just doesn't count lol..)

On another note - if the CAD dollar continues to lag behind the U.S for the next few years as anticipated - I think we'll see a strong growth in U.S overnight visitors to not just Toronto but Canada as a whole.. International in terms of growth has outstripped U.S in the last decade but I think there are favourable conditions to see a strong resurgence in U.S visitation (which is excellent - we want to grow all foreign visitation including our American friend$$)

Last edited by fusion2; 05-31-2015 at 01:22 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2015, 01:10 AM
 
Location: Kitchener
86 posts, read 126,176 times
Reputation: 64
Quote:
Originally Posted by fusion2 View Post
Depends on what is considered International and what constitutes a visit ie overnight vs day visit.. In 2013 - article below - Toronto welcomed a total of 14 million overnight visitors (Total is 25-27 million - maybe a bit more total visitors including day trips)

For overnight tourist visits the split is

2.18 million American visitors vs 1.42 million overseas visitors for a technical total of 3.60 million International overnight visitors..

International visitors lead Toronto to new tourism records in 2013 - Toronto | Globalnews.ca

For the exact same year 2013 Chicago had 1.38 million International visitors and 48 million domestic visitors (Chicago actually exceeds NYC for domestic visitation believe it or not and as I said - it is THE city in a very populated Mid-west U.S)

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...-champagne-yet

Now as I mentioned before it would appear Chicago doesn't separate Canadian tourists from overseas (or they may lump us into domestic though i'd be surprised), nor by the looks of it do they distinguish International day visitors vs overnight like Toronto does at least in the sources i'm looking at..

So while yes Toronto exceeds Chicago's international visitor numbers and including Americans which technically an American is foreign than Toronto easily trumps Chicago - excluding Americans to Toronto than it becomes more even though Toronto is still ahead but not by a whole lot..

As for what you are saying vs other U.S cities well no - You'd be surprised how many International visitors go to such cities as Orlando, Miami, Las Vegas, S.F (NYC and L.A are very strong with NYC easily number 1) for example.. I'd say Toronto is probably in the top 7-8 for International visitors to Canamerica.. Number 1 in Canada but lags behind more than just NYC and L.A.. Remember the U.S is far more well known internationally than Canada is and Chicago is simply not a big International tourist city in the U.S compared to its heavyweights..

On another note - if the CAD dollar continues to lag behind the U.S for the next few years as anticipated - I think we'll see a strong growth in U.S overnight visitors to not just Toronto but Canada as a whole.. International in terms of growth has outstripped U.S in the last decade but I think there are favourable conditions to see a strong resurgence in U.S visitation (which is excellent - we want to grow all foreign visitation and don't exclude our American friend$$)
I'd still like to see the actual stats. I realize Las Vegas and Orlando are tourist cities but again, the question is how many of those are domestic and how many are international. I'll be honest, especially given the seemingly unmatched multiculturalism Toronto offers that no other city in North America offers to such a degree, that has a lot of pull. I would presume Toronto still gets more foreign traffic than Vegas and Orlando get annually, largely because of that.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2015, 01:39 AM
 
Location: Toronto
15,106 posts, read 15,763,340 times
Reputation: 5196
Quote:
Originally Posted by billsfan1990 View Post
I'd still like to see the actual stats. I realize Las Vegas and Orlando are tourist cities but again, the question is how many of those are domestic and how many are international. I'll be honest, especially given the seemingly unmatched multiculturalism Toronto offers that no other city in North America offers to such a degree, that has a lot of pull. I would presume Toronto still gets more foreign traffic than Vegas and Orlando get annually, largely because of that.
Well its very difficult to get comparative stats that are apples to apples - especially when you cross international boundaries.. Its the same deal when individuals compare CSA GDP numbers against Canadian cities even though we don't have CSA's and don't measure our metro areas by such a measure...

With that said, Its pretty easy for you do a simple google search for International visitors to cities like Orlando, Miami, Las Vegas and S.F for example.. Also take into account an International tourist visitor doesn't necessarily do much to how 'international' a city feels... I mean Orlando gets 650K Brazilian tourists per year I wouldn't say Orlando is particular Brazilian in feel - you may see a lot of Brazilians at Disneyworld though taking pictures with Mickey.....

Now if a metro like the GTA gets 110K fresh immigrants/refugees per year from around the world who are permanently settling here i'd say that does more for how international feeling the city is than 650K Brazilians visiting Orlando in a transient fashion riding Peter Pan's Flight...

Anyway - I may be able to leverage some more detailed statistics for Toronto as I work in a related industry but to get the answers you want for other cities you will need to start doing some research If you are so inclined. I've looked at Euromonitor stats but they seem a bit off...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2015, 02:17 AM
 
97 posts, read 200,632 times
Reputation: 67
Toronto looks like Seattle.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2015, 02:46 AM
 
349 posts, read 486,252 times
Reputation: 187
Quote:
Originally Posted by fusion2 View Post
For those not familiar with Dundas Square in Toronto this is the general vibe and ped traffic of the Square. Yes minus a Sunday early morning...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwHIpmB32L4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGnIG-GX0Q


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwtJ4DWI_nI

Shots of crowds in downtown Melbourne taken by me.

Haven't been to Toronto, but I live in Melbourne and from I know and seen of photos/videos and what people have told me the cities are remarkably similar. The similar grid layout, Victorian architecture, streetcars/trams (Melbourne's is the largest in the world), very multicultural (both cities have a lot of Asians/a strong Asian character, but East/SE and South Asians), and of course Canada and Australia are quite similar.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2015, 03:02 AM
 
Location: Toronto
15,106 posts, read 15,763,340 times
Reputation: 5196
^^^

I've heard many people say the same thing and even those who have been to both and know them quite well... Like twin cities one in the north and the other in the south.. I haven't had the pleasure of going to Melbourne but I certainly would like to..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2015, 03:15 AM
 
349 posts, read 486,252 times
Reputation: 187
173 days - Melbourne vs. Toronto

I'm keen to see how much Toronto is like Melbs, I imagine it'd be pretty similar but more American feeling. I've been to the US and really it's nothing like Australia. I've heard SF compared to Melbourne but it seems pretty superficial. Montreal seems similar, but overall I think Toronto is more similar in every aspect.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-31-2015, 05:21 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,785 posts, read 37,774,664 times
Reputation: 11561
Quote:
Originally Posted by billsfan1990 View Post
I'd still like to see the actual stats. I realize Las Vegas and Orlando are tourist cities but again, the question is how many of those are domestic and how many are international. I'll be honest, especially given the seemingly unmatched multiculturalism Toronto offers that no other city in North America offers to such a degree, that has a lot of pull. I would presume Toronto still gets more foreign traffic than Vegas and Orlando get annually, largely because of that.
I hear what you are saying but I doubt many people travel to TO primarily because it is multicultural. There are plenty of diverse cities all over the world.

If TO's diversity drives tourism in a significant way at all (compared to a place like Chicago) it is because much of its immigration is recent and therefore TO gets tons more visiting friends and relatives.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > World

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:50 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top