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.
Depends on which type of tourism you're talking about. If you're talking about historic/cultural tourism, then it would be San Antonio. If you're talking about a more pleasure-oriented, relaxing sort of tourism, then it would be Orlando.
Orlando wins in the theme park category with Disney, but San Antonio has it's share of theme parks, golf resorts and attractions. Cultural and history wise San Antonio wins. Overall Orlando wins by total annual vistors.
Well Orlando certainly *has* more tourists and perhaps more things to do for tourists, so I guess it is more of a touristy city. Orlando has a large number of international flights that are basically only at MCO because of Disney/Universal/Sea World. SA has flights to Mexico because there are lots of Mexicans in SA.
I grew up less than 2 hours from Orlando, so I am very very familiar with the city. It's fun to visit, but if I had a choice now, I would definitely choose San Antonio because I have never been and it has more cultural offerings up my alley. You can't beat all the good shows, I-Drive, and attractions in Orlando, though. No matter how many times you go for the day or for a weekend (I was fortunate enough to be able to go on a whim when I wanted ), there is always something new. When you have about 50 million visitors to your city annually, of course there is going to be A LOT of touristy things ranging from good restaurants to waterparks (gross me out LoL) to theme parks to nightclubs to enormous hotels and resorts to good shopping to kitschy attractions like Holy Land Experience and Pirates Dinner Adventure and world's largest MacDo's and Citywalk and Downtown Disney, list goes on, Old Towne for go-karts and free fall rides.
Akhenaton, I would have to disagree, though on relaxation. Orlando may have tons of resorts (none that I would go to personally), but it's a city of thrills and meant for thrill seekers and people wanting a high energy experience. I would think San Antonio would be more relaxing (their biggest attractions are the downtown canal and the Alamo). A stroll is what I would look for in SA (maybe a trip to its theme park, too), but in Orlando it's all about crazy maniacal drivers, big theme parks, thrills, I-Drive, and a fast pace. I would also want to visit SA's botanical gardens since it is well known.
I don't mean to seriously offend anyone by saying this (but some offense will be inevitable), but BOTH cities are terribly overrated in terms of tourist destinations! When I think of Orlando I think of theme parks, and when I think of San Antonio I think of the Alamo and Riverwalk. Neither have a wide variety of attractions, IMO, and unless you are going to these areas for ONE particular reason, you're unlikely to visit. That's true for a LOT of cities, but these two in particular are widely touted as great tourist destinations, which is why I think they are overhyped/overrated.
I don't mean to seriously offend anyone by saying this (but some offense will be inevitable), but BOTH cities are terribly overrated in terms of tourist destinations! When I think of Orlando I think of theme parks, and when I think of San Antonio I think of the Alamo and Riverwalk. Neither have a wide variety of attractions, IMO, and unless you are going to these areas for ONE particular reason, you're unlikely to visit. That's true for a LOT of cities, but these two in particular are widely touted as great tourist destinations, which is why I think they are overhyped/overrated.
Not many. We were there a few years back and we saw the Riverwalk and the Alamo.
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.
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.
), there is always something new. When you have about 50 million visitors to your city annually, of course there is going to be A LOT of touristy things ranging from good restaurants to waterparks (gross me out LoL) to theme parks to nightclubs to enormous hotels and resorts to good shopping to kitschy attractions like Holy Land Experience and Pirates Dinner Adventure and world's largest MacDo's and Citywalk and Downtown Disney, list goes on, Old Towne for go-karts and free fall rides.
