Quote:
Originally Posted by i_am_kyry
Absolutely. Check out ChicagoGreeters.com. Our tourism numbers are going through the roof. European, Asian, and Latin American markets are on fire for us right now, we just opened another auxiliary center in Chengdu, China to further promote the city. Chicago, it seems, far exceeds their expections - I constantly hear "This city is so much prettier and cleaner than New York." "I had no idea Lake Michigan was that big and beautiful." "Everyone here is so friendly!" "I had no idea a city this big existed between New York and Los Angeles." We hit our 'expected number of guests' for the first quarter (Jan 1- April 30) back in the beginning of February.
The momentum is growing, we just need to capitalize on it.
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Oh yeah, thanks! Funny you mention China. My girlfriend who's originally from China (Dongbei region originally but moved to Shanghai over a decade ago) and lives in NYC (I split my time between these two cities every week) was in Chicago for her 2nd time. The first time was a few years ago and she didn't seem much. Cold March weekend.
She was amazed by how clean the city was compared to NYC. She never saw Lake Michigan her first time and couldn't believe it - how blue it was, how big, etc. She took pictures of it, posted it on the Chinese equivalent of FB and asked "Guess where!?" A handful of people thought it was Miami. She started asking me about real estate prices here and was absolutely amazed at how cheap everything is relatively compared to SF, DC, NYC, etc and Shanghai. She kept remarking how the South Loop's skyline reminded her of some cities in China - the architecture, modernity of the buildings, and spacing of the buildings. She said Roosevelt Collection looks exactly like where her parents live in an outer ring of Shanghai and asked if a Chinese architect had designed it.
I guess recently she's been telling some of her Chinese friends about Chicago. Most of them just say "Yeah, but the winters!" -- and yes winters are rough, but the difference in winter between NYC and Chicago isn't really THAT great minus the snow totals. This last winter was about even between the two cities too with temperatures. I'm usually in both cities every week and I see the potential for Chicago to really grow again right now.