Quote:
Originally Posted by memememe76
I think Surrey needs to do what Richmond does--capitalize on its major immigration population. Non-residents do not go to Richmond for their movie theatre, we go there for its excellent Chinese food and cultural amenities. Surrey could do that with its Indian immigration. I still wonder why there has not been an Indian equivalent to T&T.
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Did Richmond do that intentionally though? Seems like most of the Chinese food establishments that attract outside visitors are private developments. Surrey has those too, however they're much less centralized than in Richmond. You're pretty much only going to find great Chinese food within spitting distance of No. 3 Road between Granville Ave and the north arm of the Fraser, whereas you can find great Indian food everywhere in Surrey. Richmond's combination of height restrictions and ALR restrictions have resulted in widespread mid-rise density, which has been great for concentrating many competing restaurants into a relatively small area, which ultimately increases quality as bad restaurants, or restaurants that don't advertise themselves well, will fail. Surrey's suburban sprawl and lack of any real density, at least until very recently, hasn't forced the same competition and therefore elevation of quality and need for advertising.
Surrey is also much more ethnically diverse than Richmond and hasn't had a majority population of a single pan ethnic group since the 2006 census (when that group was European). Only in the 2021 did South Asian (37%) surpass European (30%) as the largest pan ethnic group. For Richmond this happened decades prior where East Asians were the largest pan ethnic group since the 2006 census, and a clear majority since 2016 (49.75% in 2011 though).
Surrey also has substantial growth in it's non-European/non-South Asian demographics too, which isn't quite as pronounced in Richmond.
Considering those demographic differences it would be difficult for the city to directly promote a single ethnic group as a major attraction to the city. The city does still promote South Asian cultural events like the Vaisakhi parade, however there's also large pan ethnic events like the Fusion Festival. The trouble is these aren't reoccurring so it ends up being a one time infusion of people to the city and then no activity until the next major event, instead of activity occurring on a daily or weekly basis.
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