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IMHO while CERTAIN select parts of Baltimore have a historic charm (such as Fells Point), unfortunately too much of the city (including the CBD) is in disrepair and visually unappealing, most of this is due to poor leadership from local politicians. The Inner Harbor area for example is now an outdated "tourist spot" that is no longer even popular among tourists, I visited this area last year and was shocked to see the Inner Harbor looked like a ghost town, not to mention the fact that it felt unsafe in the evening and even locals seemed to nervously scurry away at sunset. I stayed at a major downtown hotel and spoke with the management there, they informed me that "business is bad" and meeting planners are no longer considering Baltimore as a meetings destination, and this was BEFORE the Baltimore riots, I cannot imagine how it is now.
I would not say call the inner harbor an outdated tourist spot as it get the most tourist in the state and more than DC. The latest reviews of the inner harbor on trip advisor do not convey any of your experiences during your time here. There has been plenty of new development in and around the inner harbor. Last year the inner harbor was actually pretty crowded with the Star Spangled Spectacular writing of the national anthem bicentennial celebrations and about 1.43 million people was here in the span of three days or something like that. Plus with all of the cranes along the waterfront I would say the area is continuing to revitalize. Downtown hotels in 2014 had an occupancy rate of 69% which was described as “nearly back to pre-recession levels.” The national average for hotel occupancy is 64.4%. Fail #3
Last edited by Northernest Southernest C; 06-23-2015 at 02:08 PM..
Baltimore has plenty of business owned by immigrants. There are ethnic enclaves in Baltimore that DC lacks.
Actually there still are ethnic enclaves (not the old school European ones, those are long gone) or at least neighborhoods with a good number of ethnic communities in DC. And also, a good number of those low-income businesses in some of the poor/working class neighborhoods in DC are usually owned and ran by Koreans, Vietnamese, and Ethiopians as far as immigrant business owners are concerned. You'll still see African American-owned businesses in some of the working class and lower/upper middle class nabes DC and a good deal more out here in the burbs but overall, the immigrants have a strong presence.
Those places still look empty and far from vibrant. The crime in Baltimore and lack of leadership are keeping the city from moving forward.
I was not showing street views for vibrancy (there are plenty and those areas I showed are not empty) I was showing a comparison to how the worse parts of Baltimore on street view can look with rehab from an architectural standpoint. Yes crime and leadership is something we can all agree on.
Last edited by Northernest Southernest C; 06-23-2015 at 02:59 PM..
I was not showing street views for vibrancy (there are plenty) I was showing a comparison to how the worse parts of Baltimore on street view can look with rehab from an architectural standpoint. Yes crime and leadership is something we can all agree on.
Uh and those places didn't look empty at all.
Also, I looked around Inner Harbor on streetview and the place is packed with lots of different types of people - not sure if the camera guy was there on some big event, but certainly didn't look like a dated, empty tourist attraction. Reminds me of a better version of Boston's waterfront (although it appears to be pretty cut off from the rest of the downtown).
Well I know one thing, Baltimore in terms of urban character and just urban feel in general is more urban than DC And Miami imo. The block after blocks of row homes gives Baltimore this unique urban feel similar to Philly, with the main commercial strips in the middle leading to downtown
Yeah, if only DC had blocks after blocks after blocks of rowhomes, townhomes, condos, apartment buildings, duplexes, and vibrant commercial strips criscrossing throughout The City to give it the urban edge over Baltimore. Let alone a larger downtown and a more superior public transportation and a more consistent walkability and cohesion between the inner core and outer core neighborhoods without it getting hood real quick. If only DC had the significant population and density sizes and employment industries to even touch Bmore's urban hustle and bustle. Oh if only, woe is us, woe is us
Baltimore can't come close to Seattle. Way less educated, way less office space, and lower rents for the space it has. Never mind Amazon HQ, if Amazon opened a warehouse in Dundalk, Baltimore would hail it a sign of tech resurgence, and we'd have to start hearing about the Silicon Ghetto.
I would not say call the inner harbor an outdated tourist spot as it get the most tourist in the state and more than DC. The latest reviews of the inner harbor on trip advisor do not convey any of your experiences during your time here. There has been plenty of new development in and around the inner harbor. Last year the inner harbor was actually pretty crowded with the Star Spangled Spectacular writing of the national anthem bicentennial celebrations and about 1.43 million people was here in the span of three days or something like that. Plus with all of the cranes along the waterfront I would say the area is continuing to revitalize. Downtown hotels in 2014 had an occupancy rate of 69% which was described as “nearly back to pre-recession levels.” The national average for hotel occupancy is 64.4%. Fail #3
Inner Harbor annual visitors = 14 million
National Mall annual visitors = 25 million
Inner Harbor annual visitors = 14 million
National Mall annual visitors = 25 million
Im talking about City as whole tourism numbers
Washington DC get more overseas visitor than Baltimore but these numbers below include both domestic and international.
From Destination DC annual report
2009 16.32 million
2010 17.28 million visitors
2011 17.9 million visitors
2012 18.9 million tourists
2013 19 million Washington, DC Visitor Research | washington.org
With approximately 20.4 million visitors a year, Baltimore City is the number one attraction in Maryland.
Baltimore according to Visit Baltimore's annual report
2009 20 million people visit Baltimore out of 29 million tourist in the state of MD that same year
2010 21 million
2011 Almost 24 million visitors
2012 23 million visitors
2013 23.9 million visitors Baltimore Tourism Reaching New Heights « CBS Baltimore
Inner Harbor annual visitors = 14 million
National Mall annual visitors = 25 million
The figure for the Inner Harbor seems inflated and the figure for the Mall seems too low. It's hard to believe that the Inner Harbor gets half as many tourists as the place that's the destination for more field trips than anywhere else in the country.
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