grovester wrote:Well I'm certainly glad I didn't assert that they were a "real pull for tourism", though I think you discount military and historical tourism at your peril. Face it, outside of our nations capital, tourism is driven by hedonism or natural wonder. In KC I'd say the biggest draws are foodie tourism (bbq) and sports (Royals and Chiefs). Nothing to be ashamed of and better than a lot of metros. Seriously, why would anyone vacation in Dallas?
First let me apologize if my tone in the last post was a little gruff, It wasn’t my intention. I personally love Union Station and the WWI Memorial and think they look very good next to each other and are a huge asset to KCMO. I just don’t think they are huge tourist draws for the city, and when I say secondary draws I mean they get visited when someone is already in the city and is being shown around.
I was recently reading the numbers of visitors to the Memorial Museum and thought it wasn’t all that many. The article I read said “More than 150,000 people visited the museum last year”
Source:
http://news.msn.com/us/100-years-on-wor ... ity-museum
Compare that to say St. Louis and the gateway arch,
The Gateway Arch is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world with over four million visitors annually,
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Arch
As for why would anyone vacation /visit Dallas, that’s a good question that I cannot answer for others but I will say Dallas has the 6th floor Museum and Dealey Plaza that get more visitors each year than the WWI Memorial and WWI museum.
The 6th floor museum attracts more than 325,000 people every year. (that’s more than double what the WWI Museum attracts)
Source:
http://www.jfk.org/go/about/faqs
Kansas City does have great history and yes it’s known for BBQ, Steaks and its Jazz but those are more woven into its history and not really a destination attraction like a memorial or an Arch. Like Cowboy boots, western hats, and oil derricks are to Dallas’ woven history you don’t see people flying to Dallas to visit the western wear people use to wear.
Again for me, Kansas City is where I was born and where my grandparents and parents lived so I have roots there and a “connection” to the city. I love the rich history of the city but only because I feel that connection. All cities have a rich history but whether you personally have a connection to that history is another issue.
The fact Kansas City is my birth “home” I just wish there was a larger destination draw or something more than the woven history of BBQ, Steaks and Jazz to set the city apart and make it more of a tourism draw. I say that with sincerity as I really would love to see it one day happen.
While Kansas City MO does have a few things economically against at this time I do predict that Kansas City will once again be one of the most important cities in the USA in the future. There are factors in play at this very moment that indicate to me that Kansas City will rise to great prominence once again but most people are blind to these things at these time, they just cannot see them or believe in them.
As a betting man I do predict that Kansas City in 25 years will become one of the most important hubs in all of the USA.
What Kansas City needs to do right now is to get their collective shit together and get a nice professional first class mass transit system in place and operating. They also need to get a new larger (At least 3 times the size) international airport build and a large freight yard and distribution system developed to serve both the northeast and some of the west
Due to my age and health I know I'm not blessed with very many more years on this planet but I do know if I am given 15 years more to live I will see some of these huge changes take place. I just want to be back home to experience and be part of all the changes in Kansas City.