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Though maybe Chicago can try to make itself more attractive to international travelers--and a lot of international travelers, and certainly the ones who log in the most repeat trips, are business travelers. It'd be nice for Chicago to make big plans again.
It is...Chicago is at the moment hosting a major international travel conference and is opening "Choose Chicago" offices around the world. Some 6000 industry professionals from some 70 countries are being winded and dined by Emmanuel and company.
There are reasons that a city can have high international tourist numbers that have little to do with its global recognition. For example Antalya, Turkey routinely scores near the top of international tourism rankings because it is a cheap and easily accessible Black Sea resort (attracting tons of Russians and other Eastern Europeans). Similarly Orlando is one of the top US cities for international tourists (for obvious reasons). Would anyone argue that Antalya and Orlando have a stronger global recognition than Tokyo or Chicago?
I mean, it's just hard to beat out the Golden Gate Bridge, SF Hills, SF historic cable cars, and neighborhoods like The Castro and Haight-Ashbury as far as iconic places are concerned.
I mean, in Chicago, other then the Willis Tower, what is iconic internationally? Chicago has no well known neighborhoods other then Southside Chicago for obvious reasons.
I mean, it's just hard to beat out the Golden Gate Bridge, SF Hills, SF historic cable cars, and neighborhoods like The Castro and Haight-Ashbury as far as iconic places are concerned.
I mean, in Chicago, other then the Willis Tower, what is iconic internationally? Chicago has no well known neighborhoods other then Southside Chicago for obvious reasons.
I mean, it's hard to beat out all of the river drawbridges, the iconic lakefront, the historic Chicago 'L', and neighborhoods like Hyde Park, Lincoln Park, Lakeview and Wicker Park.
the ignorance about Chicago is astounding in this thread. The South Side is not a neighborhood, it is a SIDE of the city, consisting of dozens of neighborhoods. but whatever, nothing to see in Chicago, that's why San Francisco's own, George Lucas, may build his legacy in Chicago....cause we desperately need a tourist attraction.
I mean, it's hard to beat out all of the river drawbridges, the iconic lakefront, the historic Chicago 'L', and neighborhoods like Hyde Park, Lincoln Park, Lakeview and Wicker Park.
the ignorance about Chicago is astounding in this thread. The South Side is not a neighborhood, it is a SIDE of the city, consisting of dozens of neighborhoods. but whatever, nothing to see in Chicago, that's why San Francisco's own, George Lucas, may build his legacy in Chicago....cause we desperately need a tourist attraction.
Those neighborhoods don't really have international fame and recognition. And those 'icons' of Chicago still don't beat SF's iconic destinations. Lol A river drawbridge. Congrats. SF has the GGB which is far more known. Congrats, the historic 'L' which is really just a subway above ground. SF has historic trollies that you consistently see in movies and are very well known. When they announced we were getting a streetcar here in Atlanta, the first thing I thought of was the SF cable cars.
Face it. The numbers don't lie. SF gets over 2x as many international overseas visitors as Chicago does.
I think both Cali powerhouses are more cultural and iconic than Chicago is. People on these forums overrate how known Chicago is around the world, especially when compared to other cities on it's tier.
Antalya's barely known by anyone outside of Turkey, it pulls in even higher numbers than Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir simply because it's the transfer point for tourists on cruises (one of the largest cruise ports on the planet). It makes all it's leisure revenue by curious boat dwellers on long itineraries.
If you look at this, you'll surprisingly see Miami top a megacity like Los Angeles in tourism for international visitors. What people here are forgetting is that Miami is the busiest such cruise port on planet Earth. A staggering amount of international tourists arrive via boat, while on vacation often it's apart of the itinerary as a stop when cruises pass through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
Were you to factor in tourism by business, by commercial airlines, by each respective nations, Miami would dip to well below it's present figures and closer to around Boston, Chicago, and Washington DC in international tourism (which is why most leisure companies always put Orlando above Miami as a pure destination, because well it is, via traditional ports of entry (airports)).
That being said, Orlando as a city has no where close to the recognition of Miami or Chicago worldwide, as a city. Miami has no where near the recognition of Los Angeles worldwide (and it's an invisible city to Africa, Oceania, and Asia; some 5 billion people of the 7 billion on Earth).
Certain cities have massive tourism industries, because that's the primary fixture to their respective economies. I'm not saying we should discount tourism because it's by cruise, I'm just saying, we have to look at these things for what they are.
Those neighborhoods don't really have international fame and recognition. And those 'icons' of Chicago still don't beat SF's iconic destinations. Lol A river drawbridge. Congrats. SF has the GGB which is far more known. Congrats, the historic 'L' which is really just a subway above ground. SF has historic trollies that you consistently see in movies and are very well known. When they announced we were getting a streetcar here in Atlanta, the first thing I thought of was the SF cable cars.
Face it. The numbers don't lie. SF gets over 2x as many international overseas visitors as Chicago does.
I think both Cali powerhouses are more cultural and iconic than Chicago is. People on these forums overrate how known Chicago is around the world, especially when compared to other cities on it's tier.
ummm there are dozens of drawbridges, in fact Chicago has more movable bridges than anywhere in the world.
Those are 6 and 4 lane bridges with sidewalks that fly into the air...the most impressive drawbridges on Earth. Suppose Atlanta has something more impressive, a 40 lane highway perchance?
And have you never seem the "L" on screen? What planet are you living on. And hate to tell you, very very few people from outside of America know about Haight-Ashbury...and if its Gay neighborhoods you are looking for (Castro), Boystown in Chicago was recently ranked best gay neighborhood in the world
And face it, Chicago got some 46 million visitors last year as compared to 17 million for San Francisco, of course the lion's share of Chicago's numbers are Americans. Do we not count?
Forgot to weight in, San Francisco has more features well known across the world. It's more iconic, in my opinion. It's probably more well known today, strongly because of it's Pacific Rim DNA (lots of business and social connections to that side of the world, part of the world with a staggering population in raw numbers).
Chicago's the more cultured city in my opinion, in the traditional sense (theater, improv (comedy/tragedy), institutions of culture, musicals, and the play "Chicago" has numerous posterboards in "leisure heavy" areas of Manhattan with a fixture of early 1900's Chicago style). So on.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 04-10-2014 at 12:27 PM..
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