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In general, the tier for downtown Raleigh is different than the tier for the greater region. That's what happens when your boom was postwar rather than prewar. Doubly so when multi-nodal. Certainly the downtown is spreading out and up by the billion$, but it's historical footprint is much smaller than legacy cities.
Agreed. If one is going to judge a tier by the size of a legacy downtown alone, then this entire conversation is a moot point.
Raleigh in general is more of a tourist draw than Memphis, which may come as a surprise to many (it did to me)...
Nah. The science of determining annual visitors/tourists is about as subjective/variable as it gets and if Raleigh posts higher annual tourist numbers, it's likely because it hosts most business gatherings and has more people visiting family and friends who live there. That doesn't really make it a bigger "tourist draw" though IMO.
Nah. The science of determining annual visitors/tourists is about as subjective/variable as it gets and if Raleigh posts higher annual tourist numbers, it's likely because it hosts most business gatherings and has more people visiting family and friends who live there. That doesn't really make it a bigger "tourist draw" though IMO.
Raleigh probably has an edge with the State Fair and the state museums drawing in people. And the festivals have gotten quite large, I think Brewgaloo might be one of the largest beer festivals in the country. That said, I know Graceland is good for half-a-million visitors on its own.
Nah. The science of determining annual visitors/tourists is about as subjective/variable as it gets and if Raleigh posts higher annual tourist numbers, it's likely because it hosts most business gatherings and has more people visiting family and friends who live there. That doesn't really make it a bigger "tourist draw" though IMO.
Yeah, and there are big differences between counting methods. Do they count every out of town credit card buying gas at the Quick-e-Mart?
Individual attractions can be even worse. If it's a street, you might be called a visitor every time you walk to work or back. At a mall, they might count the same teenybopper 100 times a year. And I imagine a lot of places simply make an optimistic guess, because a big number will help their marketing.
I don’t understand, a street isn’t a tourist attraction, nor are malls. That said, individual cities do give out estimates that are calculated in different ways, so it comes across as noise. Best to look at attractions that are ticketed or turnstiled.
Maybe you mean clubs or bars on a street? Outside maybe Broadway, Hollywood Blvd, and the Vegas Strip, I’m not sure I can think of a street that doubles as a tourist attraction in its own right.
I guess I think of Beale Street as simply a catchall for the nightlife downtown, and didn’t think anyone was actually counting people on the street going to work. Counting should be limited to those things we can count (ie museums and festivals). Nightlife is impossible to clarify as such, and therefore it’s a judgment call.
Downtown Raleigh is indeed small geographically, but I like that I live on one corner of it and reasonably walk to all of it. Other things that I like about it:
1. The surrounding neighborhoods are historic, well cared for, and each have their own vibe. If you live in one of them, you can walk to a district or two of downtown proper.
2. The development that happens downtown is impactful to all of downtown, not just the specific district or area.
3. It's not overwhelmed with parking lots. Sure there are some, but not like there are in many other cities.
4. The western "tentacle" radiating from the center leads to NC State, the largest university in the state and its mostly compact and walkable main campus along the main drag of Hillsborough St. that leads to the Capitol Building. That 1.5 mile stretch in the city is a really nice connection.
5. It's growing rapidly with residents and watching it transform is just fantastic.
5. Maybe most importantly, there aren't any freeways slicing up the core of the city or separating the core from its adjacent historic neighborhoods. Citizens fought that 50+ years ago and I am most grateful to them.
100%!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutiny77
Nah. The science of determining annual visitors/tourists is about as subjective/variable as it gets and if Raleigh posts higher annual tourist numbers, it's likely because it hosts most business gatherings and has more people visiting family and friends who live there. That doesn't really make it a bigger "tourist draw" though IMO.
I don't disagree but hey, I'm just going by the numbers the tourist commissions of both cities publicly publish...
Anecdotally though I do take issue with the presumed value of Memphis as a tourist draw, which I think is exaggerated. Memphis is a Mid-South regional draw for Western Tennesseeans and citizens of neighboring states. It's not '00 anymore, or '90, or '80. Memphis does not have the esteem, tourism and otherwise, thar it had when posters here were growing up, and as with many other things posted here, I find it to be under the umbrella of City Data things that CD residents are slow to acknowledge or even realize. I can't tell you the last time I heard someone who isn't from the Mid-South talk up Memphis as a place to head to----->and when I have it certainly wasn't with the same esteem that people talk about going to places like Orlando or Nashville for instance...
In comparison Raleigh is also a regional tourist draw from basically The Triad on east, covering most of NC with a population in line with the population in the radius Memphis is also a regional draw. Nationally Memphis has more clout historically but people aren't racing each other to trip to Memphis today and I think what gets confused on here is the historical relevance of Memphis and what Memphis actually is today...
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