What is Vancouver? A response...

[deasine]

Nature and natural setting is what puts Vancouver on top on all lists. If our region decided to focus primarily on entertainment, nightlife, and shopping, Vancouver would be competing with the other major cities that excel in this category. Even if we had more bars, malls, city lights, etc, we will never be able to excel that of New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, etc. Population, thus demand, is a limiting factor. So if I wanted to visit a big city with all of the world class shopping, nightlife, etc. why would I visit Vancouver over other major cities in the world?

If the argument is, we should have more shopping, nightlife, and a bit more city lights, that's fine as it is a valid point. But if you believe we should solely focus on that instead of marketing our natural setting, I'm sorry to say, you will not see the results you would hope to see.