^ Italy is easy that way, rome to florence to milan is a quick, easy , fun trip and all those cities are famous cultural destinations
but if you've never been to paris before its a bit iffy to leave and visit some much less well known city like Brussels. lot of people would probably rather take day trips to Tours, Reims, etc and stay in France.
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Philly is probably my second favorite U.S. city, and I agree it's underrated, but it's also the most similar U.S. city to NYC, so doesn't make much sense for intl. visitors to spend time in Philly if they're visiting NYC.
Also, the analogy with Italy doesn't really work. Italy's Big Three tourist cities (Rome, Florence, Venice) are all extremely distinct. They were separate countries during most of their history. I mean, even the language isn't historically the same. It's more like if NY, SF and Miami were closely connected by Acela.
Yeah this is kind of ridiculous. All of these should be made into easy side trips from Chicago. But even Starved Rock, barely outside the metro area, is inaccessible without renting a car, as this hapless British Karen found out:
If we had a sensible tourist infrastructure, there should be buses going down Route 66/to Starved Rock/the Indiana Dunes/Galena/whatever lined up by the Art Institute. Tourists don't want to figure out these logistics...
edit: one more thing. I remember at Stanford and MIT, there were busloads of Asian tourists taking tours of campus for some reason (like, literally photographing us walking to class or whatever). I haven't seen the same thing at UChicago. I have no idea what tourist market this is but it's something Chicago could probably try to capitalize on, between UChicago, Northwestern and (a bit farther afield) Notre Dame.
I’m also not getting them putting “all” of Illinois’ attractions in every video. A tourist isn’t going to fly into Chicago and then drive approximately 325 miles to go to the Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forest or 200 miles to Springfield on a whim. Especially since something like the Garden of the Gods is far more accessible from cities like St. Louis, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Nashville than actual Chicago itself.
The focus should be on Chicago and its attractions, then if they want to hype Route 66 and Lincoln that can be advertised as a side weekend trip. Spend a day hitting the small towns off old 66 / I-55 and then the next day seeing the Lincoln stuff in Springfield.
Brussels is boring compared to other places in Belgium, especially Brugge (Bruges), Ghent, Antwerp, and Leuven.
It is rather like how Frankfurt is much less interesting for foreign visitors to Germany, relative to Berlin, Munchen, Hamburg, and Bremen.
I think apart from NYC and LA (and Orlando and Vegas I guess) there's not much particular appeal to any individual American city to foreign tourists - it's the 'open road' itself that holds the appeal.
Don't get me wrong, i'd LOVE to be able to go to Rochester or Kansas City or Asheville because i'm an urban nerd but people aren't visiting America to see them anymore than Americans are going to Rouen or Middlesborough.
I mean Chicago looks like a cool place but I could easily die happy without having visited.
5. Probably tie this with Seattle/SD, but Texan major cities really have zero pull for global tourists if we're honest.
Funnily enough there are now (or were ) direct flights to Houston and Dallas from Sydney, some of the longest in the world, and i've noticed an uptick in friends who have gone there for the 'American experience' as an alternative to California.
Funnily enough there are now (or were ) direct flights to Houston and Dallas from Sydney, some of the longest in the world, and i've noticed an uptick in friends who have gone there for the 'American experience' as an alternative to California.
That Dallas to Sydney flight is murder though. When I took it, we had to kick out 50 passengers and then still land in Brisbane for more fuel (something about winds). Got to Sydney after over 20 miserable hours on the plane (and way late, obviously). Fortunately there was another flight to CHC later that day so I didn't have to stay in Sydney overnight (which I think may require a visa to do?). I was on my way to McMurdo and didn't have much time to spare.
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That Dallas to Sydney flight is murder though. When I took it, we had to kick out 50 passengers and then still land in Brisbane for more fuel (something about winds). Got to Sydney after over 20 miserable hours on the plane (and way late, obviously). Fortunately there was another flight to CHC later that day so I didn't have to stay in Sydney overnight (which I think may require a visa to do?). I was on my way to McMurdo and didn't have much time to spare.
That whole trip sounds like murder, it's making my back ache just thinking about it.
But back on topic if i could see ONE lesser city in the United States it would be Pittsburgh: the geography, history, neighbourhoods, topography and culture mixed together seem quite unique.
This is a good point. I think LA and SF and Vegas benefit from each other in this regard, because they're all under an hours flight from each other (and dirt cheap airfare), so it's easy for international tourists to combine it all into one 2-3 week trip. If you go to Italy, you're likely to hit up Rome, Florence, and Venice. For Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. For Thailand, Bangkok and Phuket.
In addition to the major cities, you've also got the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and to a lesser extent, Tahoe, as major natural attractions for day or multi-day side trips offered by tour bus companies. When people travel to SF or LA, they're likely to include some combination of the above. If people don't care for Vegas, then they might venture to SD or maybe Monterey/Big Sur/Wine Country, or for the more nature inclined check out places like Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Sequoia National Forest, Zion, etc.
It'd be interesting to see which National Parks draw the most international tourists. Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited but I suspect the vast majority is domestic visitors.
In the early 1990s I was in Bryce and Zion NPs, and literally on the trails at least half the people hiking spoke either Japanese, German, Italian with a smattering of French and English accents. The dollar was cheap, so there were a lot of foreign tourists. I read that some foreign tourists, especially Germans, love to visit Death Valley during mid summer just to experience the heat.
Last edited by CaliNative; Sep 9, 2020 at 4:57 AM.
the chicago region could do a better job marketing itself as a city in a particular american region centered on the western great lakes instead of a city in illinois. if somehow it could team up with wisconsin and sw michigan the entire project would be far more cohesive.
the problem with illinois running the show is that it’s 300 miles from chicago to illinois own recreationally significant region... which isnt even accessed or known about really by chicagoans and is in a totally different region to boot.
between the two areas is perhaps the greatest swath of arable, prime farming soil on the entire planet but lets be honest, not where people want to have a vacation. illinois current recreational marketing is incoherent, even to the st. louis market which is accessible to more of it than any other metro area in illinois.
far southern illinois “southernmost illinois” has its own marketing budget i think but it doesnt extend from its own region.
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Last edited by Centropolis; Sep 9, 2020 at 12:40 PM.
I took the Cardinal to Baltimore one time and noticed a decent number of Chinese tourists using it to hop between various stops throughout West Virginia. That was kind of unexpected.
Funnily enough there are now (or were ) direct flights to Houston and Dallas from Sydney, some of the longest in the world, and i've noticed an uptick in friends who have gone there for the 'American experience' as an alternative to California.
I'm sure some Australians visit Texas, but that's not the reason for the nonstop flights from Sydney to Dallas/Houston. The Sydney to Dallas nonstop exists because Qantas and American Airlines are alliance partners, Dallas is AA's primary hub, and DFW is within range of Sydney. Indirectly, that's also why Houston to Sydney exists as well, because Houston is the easternmost United hub that is within range of Sydney. All of the other big hubs on the east coast, along with Chicago, are out of range for a nonstop to Australia.
the chicago region could do a better job marketing itself as a city in a particular american region centered on the western great lakes instead of a city in illinois. if somehow it could team up with wisconsin and sw michigan the entire project would be far more cohesive.
This happens to a lot of cities because the state is usually running the tourism campaigns. The infamous I Love New York campaign (that inspired my username) was actually a state tourism campaign. Most people assume it meant I Love New York (city), but it actually stands for I Love New York (state). Luckily, the state and city have the same name...
All of the other big hubs on the east coast, along with Chicago, are out of range for a nonstop to Australia.
nope.
Qantas is/was planning a nonstop brisbane-chicago flight that was supposed to start next week, but i think it might've been killed/delayed by the covid.
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