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Does anyone else think that Vancouver actually feels more like SF than Seattle does?
No, San Francisco has much more density and older streetscapes in terms of neighborhoods. There's no where like walking from Nob Hill to Chinatown to North Beach in Vancouver--there's not even anywhere close to the Mission District or Haight Ashbury. Vancouver has areas of modern condo towers which feel more like a modern resort or really dense suburb compared to San Francisco's more old school feel. The rest of Vancouver outside the central peninsula or downtown-Eastside is basically earlier 20th century single family homes that could easily be in outer neighborhoods of Seattle. Even the more suburban in feel(though not really) areas of San Francisco like the outer Sunset District don't feel like residential neighborhoods in Vancouver.
Vancouver has ALOT of dual citizen Chinese/Canadians with money who go back and forth between China and Canada quite often.. Hong Kong sticks to mind and we frequently refer to Vancouver as Hongcouver.
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Originally Posted by Deezus
I don't know if that stat is true or not, but if Vancouver does have more international visitors than San Francisco it makes sense if you've been to Vancouver often.
Because A): A lot of the tourists in Vancouver are Americans--a lot of whom just go up for the weekend from the nearby Northwestern states. I go to Vancouver probably at least once or twice a year for a short trip, it's only five hours away. B): Vancouver is absolutely packed with Chinese, many of whom are visiting for a variety of reasons(family, study, tourism, business) and so on. San Francisco has a large Chinese community as well, but it's not as popular as Vancouver as a place for Chinese people to buy property and invest in or relocate to. It's a popular city for Japanese tourists and students as well. There's also a lot of other people from the British Commonwealth countries visiting Vancouver.
Size doesn't really matter as much as the fact that Vancouver basically survives off international tourism. Much of the waterfront along downtown is really devoted to tourism. The size of the Canadian population--about 35 million, which is less than California--means that there's a greater reliance on foreign visitors, while San Francisco has a huge domestic tourist market(though it's popular for foreign travellers as well).
The ironic thing was he's telling me that I was selling S.F short and I clearly stated that imo it was the far better urban destination than Vancouver and Seattle.. The only mistake I made was pointing what is obvious to most - That cities like Bangkok and Istanbul are MAJOR tourist destinations.
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Originally Posted by sav858
Kind of ironic how you gripe about selling SF short when that's exactly what you are doing with other cities that are more popular tourist international destinations.
I'm not surprised SF doesn't make the Top 20 Most Visited cities by foreigners in the world, there are A LOT of other great cities out there to visit. It really doesn't rank as high as some locals want to believe.
What opposite effect? I'm saying given the US's "big country" syndrome it should come as no surprise SF doesn't rank in the Top 20 World's Most Visited cities. Doesn't mean it's not popular, just not as visited as many other cities out there.
Exactly slo1318. This guy doesn't get it. Hong Kong is less than a two hour flight from many foreign destinations as is Europe with airfare costing but a fraction of a trans-ocean flight. A flight from Manila to Hong Kong is 1hr 40min long costing around $200 round trip with Taipei even closer than that. Countries like those found in Europe are so close to each other you can make an overnight stay on a weekend and be back in bed for the following workweek.
Most domestic locations from San Francisco are longer flights than international destinations around Europe and to a lesser extent Asia. Maybe we should evaluate how much international tourism a city gets from locations farther than 7,000nm.
But who cares!!! so what that these places are closer to other densely populated places or are cheap destinations... it doesn't mean people don't want to go to them. Sure numbers don't always tell the full story I totally agree with that but it is what it is and for plenty of travellers - S.F isn't the only desirable place in the world... Is this shocking to you?
Do you want people to speculate that S.F would be number 1 if it was cheaper and located in South East Asia.. would that make you happy? S.F is a big tourist destination in its own right.. Is it the best in the world imo no it isn't and most would concur but that doesn't mean it isn't an appealing and great place. Isn't that good enough... heck you're acting like it is being treated like Salt Lake City.
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Originally Posted by Fastphilly
Exactly slo1318. This guy doesn't get it. Hong Kong is less than a two hour flight from many foreign destinations as is Europe with airfare costing but a fraction of a trans-ocean flight. A flight from Manila to Hong Kong is an 1hr 40min long costing around $200 round trip with Taipei even closer than that. Countries like those found in Europe are so close to each other you can make an overnight stay on a weekend and be back in bed for the following workweek.
Most domestic locations from San Francisco are longer flights than international destinations around Europe and to a lesser extent Asia. Maybe we should evaluate how much international tourism a city gets from locations farther than 7,000nm.
But who cares!!! so what that these places are closer to other densely populated places or are cheap destinations... it doesn't mean people don't want to go to them. Sure numbers don't always tell the full story I totally agree with that but it is what it is and for plenty of travellers - S.F isn't the only desirable place in the world... Is this shocking to you?
Agreed, it's just a bunch of excuses for some people to make themselves feel better since SF isn't as popular or as visited as they want it to be. Typical Bay Area homerism....
But who cares!!! so what that these places are closer to other densely populated places or are cheap destinations... it doesn't mean people don't want to go to them. Sure numbers don't always tell the full story I totally agree with that but it is what it is and for plenty of travellers - S.F isn't the only desirable place in the world... Is this shocking to you?
Not in the slightest bit. It's just people (like yourself) that post up links to try and prove a point on what your saying and I come up with valid reasons to nulify the links findings. Sorry if your offended by my disagreements. Sheesh. Doesn't mean I'm saying San Francisco is the end all be all tourist mecca in the world.
But who cares!!! so what that these places are closer to other densely populated places or are cheap destinations... it doesn't mean people don't want to go to them. Sure numbers don't always tell the full story I totally agree with that but it is what it is and for plenty of travellers - S.F isn't the only desirable place in the world... Is this shocking to you?
Do you want people to speculate that S.F would be number 1 if it was cheaper and located in South East Asia.. would that make you happy?
Relax. Its a legitimate point to make regarding foreign tourism. In light of this thread, Canadas cities are skewed high because they get a lot of US tourism. San Francisco and Seattle wouldnt benefit as much from Canada because of the relatively low population. It would be the same with Mexico, tons of US tourists go to Mexican cities, but very low numbers of tourists come from Mexico.
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