Thursday, June 25, 2009
News TripAdvisor poll says Atlanta one of U.S.'s 'least favorite cities'
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 4:29 PM
We've got crime! We've got infrastructure! We're not loved!
From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:
TripAdvisor conducted an American city survey of more than 3,400 U.S. travelers to get opinions on the best and worst of major U.S. cities.Atlanta was the least-favorite city, behind only Detroit and Los Angeles. The most favorite cities were New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston.
But according to the highly unscientific poll, they like our accents. Yippee. Accents alone won't bring the tourists' $$$, folks. Get cracking!
Comments (16)
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I wonder how many of the people they polled based their answer solely on having to connect at the airport?
Detroit is more popular? Holy smokes. Does Detroit have a million $$ themesong? A Millenium Arch? A Blondie? A museum devoted to a soft drink?? We've got fish, d@mmit, in a big @ss tank. Jeezus H. What does it take to impress travelers these days?
"Atlanta was the least-favorite city, behind only Detroit and Los Angeles. The most favorite cities were New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston." So... Favorite Cities: New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston --all walkable and not so car-dependent Least Favorite: Atlanta, Detroit and Los Angeles --not so walkable and very car-dependent Most of the US is sprawled out and car-dependent, and that's what people who live in that kind of setting see everyday. Why would we expect them to spend vacation time in that same kind of setting (except with even worse traffic)? It's more of a treat to be able to walk around a dense area with attractions in a reasonable distance from each other.
I'd bet that the majority of visitors are here for Hartsfield or conventions, neither of which has the most happy-happy-joy-joy mental associations. I wonder which percentage of our annual hotel occupancy is purely leisure travel.
The T and the BART ain't nothing to write home about, Darin. You can get around those areas a little better than Atlanta on public transportation but it's nothing like New York or Chicago.
Still, though, Gerhard, San Francisco is much more walkable than Atlanta. Darin didn't even make reference to public transportation.
I, too, agree with Darin. I lived in Philadelphia for nearly eight years, and was struck by how easy it was to talk the city. Philadelphia is served by an extensive network of light rail and buses; visitors to the city routinely used rail and bus to get around and see all Philadelphia had to offer. Surely there is a connection between a city's attractiveness to visitors and its mass transit.
How could this be? Didn't those tourist assholes listen to "The ATL" where every day is opening day, WTF?
You know, I thought the same thing about some of the poll's respondents just toe-touching in Hartsfield-Jackson. If they were judging based on airports alone, then I think they screwed up. Detroit's airport, if I recall, is pretty cool.
Crime. Poor schools. Crumbling infrastructure. A political leadership void. Traffic. Pollution. Overdevelopment. Inefficiency and waste. Demoralized police and fire departments. Threatened neighborhoods. Poor green space. Abysmal accounting. Lack of openness. Weak community involvement in decisions. Lack of transparency in government decisions. Atlanta is a mess, despite its enormous potential. Thank God we stiil have The Majestic on PDL.
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