Vancouver’s low tourism grades spur sector reassessment
 

Vancouver’s low tourism grades spur sector reassessment

Greater Vancouver Board of Trade gives city D grade for international visitor counts

By Glen Korstrom | June 26, 2018

https://biv.com/article/2018/06/vanc...r-reassessment

The sooner Vancouver’s self satisfied smugness is erased the better things will become.

Vancouver has a magnificent base but all the NIMBYism / wanting to remain a small town / over reliance on “the mountains” / ideology over practicality nonsense is restraining it from becoming so much more.

The view cones, Vision’s ham fisted reconciliation tactics, black and white views towards roads, no corporate signs above 450 feet, allowing protestors to destroy the Chinatown development plan, allowing a small citizen’s group prevent an observation tower at Queen Elizabeth Park for dubious reasons, etc... are all symptoms of these problems. Each one alone is not a make or break deal, but when they all pile on top of one and other...

Funny because none of the things you're complaining about were mentioned as limiting factors in the article. :rolleyes:

And I didn’t expect them to be, but they are all symptoms of the same attitude that is contributing to this problem. If you can’t see the over arching parallels not much as I can do for you. These general directions of thought and philosophy are exactly why we lack a major (or at least adequate) amusement park, and why our park board has essentially neutered our aquarium despite great protest from marine biologists, and why there is not even a freakin farm animal petting zoo in Vancouver anymore...

That plus not having any money; forget the VAG - the Aquarium (even with the whales), Playland and all the museums seem to have a hard time just breaking even, let alone expanding.

(sigh)... Looks like we're going to need some more corporate sponsors.

the full article brings up those issues, there is also a bit of info on the VAG and needing money etc. to get moving.

Seriously if people aren't going to come to Vancouver or stay here longer because we don't have uber than oh well, give me a break. Who makes that a deciding factor on where you travel to? and if you do, get a life!

Getting around is definitely something many people take into account when planning a trip. Especially when you're not in a European-style city where everything is either within walking distance or you have an excellent public transit system

I'm pretty sure people got around fine before uber

And people communicated fine before smartphones, but try operating a business today without one.

That’s the thing, as new conveniences appear people become accustomed to them.

These criteria seem pretty lame. No amusement park? Honolulu seems to get by fine with out one, as does Palms Springs, Miami etc etc. They don't even seem to acknowledge a bigger threat, the disappearance of affordable rooms from downtown.

Well not having uber is part of our culture. Don't people like discovering different places and cultures??? Lol

But for real, someone is wanting to book a trip to Vancouver and then finds out we don't have uber and what? cancels?? Sorry but that is ridiculous. They May as well just stay in their bubble then

I can assure you that Vancouver's existing ability to park your car and travel almost anywhere by bus or train is fantastic. Uber is more that thing you use when you are with friends after a night of drinking in Gastown and you want to get back to your Kitsilano AirBNB which is totally not a garage-turned-laneway-house.

I loved my first trip to Vancouver but the glaring hole was the dearth of cultural assets: significant museums/galleries, opera, theatre, professional sports (MLB, NBA), major international festivals, etc. I know there's the Museum of Anthropology at UBC but there's not much beyond that.

No one thing alone will boost tourism to Vancouver but collectively they will make a difference.

Again everyone is focusing on a single aspect.
No, no one is going to decide a trip on if a place has ride sharring or not, but all these little aspects together do paint a larger picture that can cause people to choose elsewhere.

Are you serious??

First of all these are sun destinations, but simple quick google searches find major aquariums that even include such activities as swimming with dolphins, adventure parks, water parks, small scale family amusement facilities, large military museums, etc... And then there is the simple fact that 3 hours out of Miami is Disney World and Universal Studios.

Also seeing safari parks, water parks, and other amusement parks for Palm Springs and area. Even so I have never thought of Palm Springs as an “exciting” place to visit. More of a travel destination for the nearly dead.

Very true but the issue of not having uber has nothing to do with Vancouver as it's a provincial decision

Isn't there a petting zoo in Stanley Park or Maplewood Flats in North Van?

Petting zoo in Stanley Park was closed.

I remember going there as a child, good memories.

Not sure about North Van.

There's also the "zoo" in Aldergrove, but for the tourists' and animals' sakes I wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

Plus 5.5 million residents, a rep as a Spring Break destination (and city-sized beaches to match), teams in all four "major leagues," a giant music/club scene, three zoos, and a dozen performing arts centres. We've got big shoes to fill before we can even think of comparing Vancouver to Miami.

Also for one-percenters running away from the city for a week or two. From what I hear it's like a bigger, better Kelowna.

Then you obviously haven’t been to Palm Springs.

Vancouver’s tourist season is the summer. People come for the scenery and the outdoor activities, which is similar to a sun destination. The winter market is skiiing, which BTW is something most other major cities don’t have.

Can you imagine how dead an amusement park would be in our rainy winter? Pattison should be thankful circumstances saved him from that mistake. As Isaidso pointed out the greatest lack is probably more cultural stuff to offer as an indoor option on rainy days. But Vancouver has never been a big city for culture and truth be told Canada is probably the least cultural of the western countries.

Yes, exactly. Vancouver has one of the biggest car2go fleets in the world. Lots of visitors might be members at home and this is great for them to get around. To suggest they travel here for the car2go availability is just as dumb as not coming due to Uber.

Got dragged there on summer vacation. IMO, unless your name ends with "III" or your job title starts with "retired," it's pretty damn lame.

In other words, a lot of visitors are here for British Columbia rather than Vancouver; they could just as easily stay in Victoria or Whistler or the Sunshine Coast or the Interior. There's a whole lot we could do to make our city just as attractive as the land around it.

Granted, an all-year theme park would indeed be a bad idea... however, failing such a major tourist trap, we need something else. Things like Granville Island and the Museum of Vancouver are fine as locals, but I wouldn't proudly show them off to tourists who've been to Shibuya or Sentosa or the Louvre.

Our Aquarium is world class. Nobody is building a new zoo these days, and not in this Enviro-hippy part of the world.

Victoria is home to the Royal BC Museum, so we aren't getting another one of those either. We are one of the youngest cities on the planet. We'll never compete in a historical/culture sense. We've got mountains, skiing, hiking, camping.

I think a Great Wolf Lodge or similar would do well in Squamish, but what do I know.

The self-denial mentality of Vancouverites is also a limiting factor.



Self doubt, no-can-do attitude is another.

:rolleyes:

Car2go only exists in 26 cities, with Vancouver and Berlin having the largest fleets. In the other 24 cities, mostly western European, they are still quite young. Do you think thousands of tourists who happen to be from those 25 cities come to Vancouver as tourists?? We get the biggest numbers of visitors coming from the US and the most growth in tourism from Asia. Do you see them as Car2go members?

Uber can be used by everyone in the entire planet. Period. If visitors have to wait forever for taxis to bring them around, not to mention that it costs quite a bit more, word gets around that this is not an easy city to travel to various destinations. And please don't suggest them to take buses everywhere, as ours isn't really to par when compared to world class cities.

Like someone else said, it's not one thing that poops the party in Vancouver, but a combination of different things.

Time to wake up to reality.

Self-denial? The complainers are the ones who think there are endless problems with Vancouver. I'm happy where I live. It's you who needs to get yourself a "can-do" attitude and move yourself somewhere you'd like more. Life is short.

You're kidding, right?

That's what I thought about your un-ending support for Trump.

I don't think I've made a single comment on him in over a year on here, but nice red herring.

How is the Vancouver Aquarium remotely "world class"?

It's in your signature.

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanco...one-best-world

Or stay here to fight for more and change the status quo. And yes, there are endless problems here in Vancouver: just go stroll along downtown Eastside.

Nailed it. Vancouver is a cultural wasteland, and deliberately so. :(

Interesting discussion but largely irrelevant to the initial study which mainly just said that there's not a lot of tourists/conference attendees in Vancouver because it is in the middle of nowhere geographically and much smaller in size than many of the comparison cities.

E.g. Yes, there are more non-stop flights from Manchester than Vancouver, but that's because there are 10x more destinations in range there vs. here. Yes Hong Kong gets more international visitors than Vancouver does - how on earth could you possibly expect anything else, etc. Nothing to do with Uber or petting zoos or people's pet causes they want to project onto this.

Top 10 lists are subjective and often-contested as it is. One that was chosen by popular vote from a seemingly North American audience, even more so.

I mean I love the crap out of our Aquarium, but on a global scale, it's undeniably lacking. Let's get a shark tunnel or a five megalitre tank before we think about calling it "world class."

True, and there's no space for a zoo even if we wanted one.

Not duplicating per se; the Royal BC is 1/3rd Museum of Victoria (which is useless to us) and 1/3rd First Nations galleries (which is already covered by our MoA).

Budget willing - think I've said this before, but whatever - we could do a dedicated Natural History Museum just fine. No reason why BC's fossils should all go to Ontario. Add some exhibits about evolution and BC's biodiversity, and it ties into the nature theme we're going for. Or an Art and Science Museum like Singapore's; they've done everything from a DreamWorks behind-the-scenes to a Titanic artifact display to a National Geographic photo gallery. Like the broom closet in Science World that gets seasonal galleries, but exhibit-sized.

We can also build more theatres, more art displays, more music and performance spaces. Come on, just because Vancouver's only had about a century and a half to develop our identity doesn't mean we just give up and go with "trees and volleyball."

Or Surrey. Either one should do fine.

:haha: Fair enough, BUT we can still make sure that people like our city as a city.

That should be the Big Vision: come to Metro Vancouver, not just as a layover, not just for the outdoors around it, but because we've made it into a city worth spending time in.

This x 1000. I cannot believe the no-can-do culture that pervades throughout this so called "progressive" city.

Everyone laughs at the idea of a Ferris wheel but Vancouver with its views would be a prime candidate for one. One at Metrotown even would give incredible views.

The Melbourne star
http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/960...x2-700x467.jpg

The Seattle Ferris Wheel
https://unmanned-aerial.com/wp-conte...-153074207.jpg

Oh we have our no-can-doers here! Detractors of Ferris Wheel will definitely say that we have Grouse Mountain and Cypress Bowl, which are both way higher...... It always seems like the Mountains and trees can replace simply EVERYTHING that big cities have, and such is the mentality of many of the Vancouver locals.

All we are saying is, if Vancouver has a very progressive urban set-up, combined with the natural beauty of this region, would be a real World Class tourist paradise. Not everyone wants to experience only the mountains and the trees, but a combination of the best of both worlds would definitely beckon more to come visit.

You just don't get Vancouver.

Perhaps you'd be happier in Shanghai, or Sao Paolo.

I'm here, and will try to change what I can, so live with it. :)

And I will do what i can to make Vancouver better too, fortunately for us my betterment doesn't include a ferris wheel.

We all know that ;) haha.

Although Montreal has added a Ferris Wheel.

At first many Montreal forum members were poking fun at the idea / thought it was tacky, yet now all I see is positive remarks about its impact on the skyline....

A Ferris Wheel would also be a good excuse to add some much needed color to the night skyline in Vancouver...

Lonsdale, the New West River front, and even the River Rock Casino area would also be good locations for such a feature. Love the seaside / riverwalk random attractions one finds in other cities around the world (including Europe, which Vancouver loves to copy in other aspects).

I'd be fine with a Ferris Wheel. It would be good to help develop another location, North Van or New West would be good. North Van would have the best views of course.

Trying to shoehorn it into English Bay or Coal Harbour would be lame IMO.

Perhaps a 50-60m wheel on a Granville Island parking lot? Put that viewcone to some actual use.

I remember when they proposed the London Eye, we all laughed and there was a lot of "that's tacky" in the media at the time. The general consensus in my circle was sort of "why?!"
But then once it went in, of course we all tried it out grudgingly. Once trying it we realised it was not just a cheesy "Ferris Wheel", it was a major event, a legit tourist attraction, and really gave a different and unique view of the city. I think much of the general public mood on the Eye changed once people actually experienced it.

Now it is one of the top tourist attractions in London, and that's saying a lot.

I think the lesson is that just doing something because every other city has it is indeed pretty uninspiring. But if a city is going to do something, it better be better and different to what everybody else has done, thereby actually being worthy of your time and money.

A few years back there was a proposal for a tourist attraction at the peak of Queen Elizabeth Park. Not sure if a per-se "ferris wheel" would be the best choice, but I would certainly support some sort of tower or pinnacle or tourist attraction at that location, that gave amazing views of the city. But again, it would have to be more than just "pay your money, get 2 minutes of view, buh-bye"

Seriously, to sum it all up: I don't think that a Ferris Wheel is going to single-handedly enhance our tourism game.

I wonder, did this survey take into account Airbnb reservations?

Most definitely not. It would be a start, though.

Unless Airbnbs start showing up on Expedia or Kayak, I doubt they'll be more than a footnote in any tourism study. Not exactly most tourists' first choice for lodging.

I avoided lining up and paying the expensive ride entrance fee of the London Eye by hopping over to the South Banks, and spent time for a cocktail at the lounge on a 40-odd floor of the Shard tower (Shangrila Hotel). That was way higher than the London Eye, and there was no line-up going up. Next day I went over to the Ting restaurant (also on 40-something floor) for lunch and had a daytime view of London. I could see the London Eye below.

Moral of the story: we need a tower like the Shard with public amenities high up so we actually don't need a Ferris Wheel.

I think we need to create some policies that support tourist oriented amenities. We definitely need a Disneyland (The PNE is nice but its honestly low class compared to the density of our city). Likely all the focus has been on housing so we've ignored tourism. My random thoughts are below.

We have all that riverfront development in the South East, definitely could use some cool stuff there.

I'd also like to develop the forest near UBC into more of a park, right now its a bit too wild for Tourism.

I know we built the village by the airport and it is expanding to increase retail. Perhaps we can even have a low rise hotel there on the water? Or even a waterfront neighborhood. We do have that beach by the airport. They are building the River Green community in Richmond thats supposed to be like a 5 star resort so perhaps we could put a nice hotel there as well? Add in a dock for boats/jetskis.

I know the water in the river is quite polluted...we definitely need to clean it up to encourage tourism and watersports.

Finally echoing Vin we need cool architecture. Right now I know most extra money goes to amenity contributions so if we waived those fees in return for it I'm sure we could see some much cooler buildings which public/tourist spaces.