[BuildTO]

All good points, wylie.

Re: postcards
There is/was a tacky souvenir shop on Yonge not too far from the square, which always had postcards out front. Last time I looked was probably five years ago but they still had postcards of the city from the 60s or 70s.

 

[building babel]

Everyone has video cameras, digital cameras, and phones with cameras these days. Who needs postcards?

 

[esplanade guy]

I've noticed almost all shops have way outdated post cards. How hard is it to take a few new pics every year? What's up with that? The ones I see are not very interesting anyway. I guess with so few tourists coming to Toronto, there is not much demand for post cards. Has anybody noticed how few real tourists there are in Toronto these days? (I mean leisure tourists, not businessmen or people visiting relatives)

 

[Duplicitous]

The waterworks, which extend in two lines of 10 along the south end of the square, are a huge draw. In their own very subtle way, they have changed the way Torontonians relate to the public realm....

Fountains have historically been viewed in a similar manner; intended more as a visual treat than a creature comfort. We are not encouraged to climb into the water or cool off under the jets

If the girls from the nearby Filmore's Gentleman's Club or some enterprising hottie secretaries from Bay street were to do the "dance of the freed sweater puppies" in those fountains, that concrete park monstrosity would be THE hotspot. :b

 

[TdotTrickyRicky]

"Has anybody noticed how few real tourists there are in Toronto these days?"

I don't know, judging by the number of people walking around downtown with maps in their hands there are probably quite a few. That said I don't know if the "real" tourists you mention venture much outside the Yonge street / Queen street axis.

 

[unimaginative2]

My friend works in a touristy area, and she can attest to the fact that there are a number of international tourists that come to Toronto. They tend to cluster along the waterfront and areas like that, though.

 

[BuildTO]

I've always been able to gauge the relative number of tourists by the out-of-province license plates. You can see quite clearly how much tourism is down since SARS.

 

[esplanade guy]

Toronto only gets between 5 and 6 million leisure tourists a year. (the ones who actually come here to have fun and see the city) I think that's pathetic when you compare it with other cities. It seems very few people actually want to come to Toronto out of choice. The vast majority of our tourists are people coming for business, conventions or relatives. That's not good!!! We definatly need some good pr.

 

[ganjavih]

Toronto only gets between 5 and 6 million leisure tourists a year.

Where did you get that figure? What do other cities get?

Anyone know how the turnout for Caribana was this year?

 

[Duplicitous]

My friend works in a touristy area, and she can attest to the fact that there are a number of international tourists that come to Toronto. They tend to cluster along the waterfront and areas like that, though.

One of the things I've noticed is the Chinese and Korean tour packages, they all get picked up by bus at about 6a to 8am infront of their hotels and go straight out of the city in comfortable buses... back late in the evening. I imagine the hotels are one of the only local business taking in any real money. The operators all seem to be native Korean and Chinese employees.

 

[tudararms]

I'm going to Chicago next weekend, for the first time. I'm so excited to finally see the city I have heard so much about, and I have great expectations. I wonder if somebody planning to come to Toronto would feel the same?

 

[TdotTrickyRicky]

^ I doubt it but then again we on this forum are probably in the minority in considering Chicago as a travel destination, it is not really on the radar of anyone I know who doesn't also have a keen interest in architecture.

I'm not sure about the american license plate comment. While I am almost certain american tourism is down I actually see more american license plates every year. I'm not sure if these are tourists however because more and more are parked in inner city toronto neighbourhoods suggesting they are either americans living in toronto, or Canadians who work or live at least part-time in the US.

 

[BuildTO]

We used to make a game of spotting the foreign plates when I was a child, and became very good at recognizing them from a distance. It was very exciting to see the "rare" plates from far away places (i.e., distant states with small populations). I never grew out of it.

I assure you there has been a noticeable drop since SARS. We may be slowly bouncing back, but the difference is clear. I live downtown and walk to work through residential areas and I do notice Americans parked on side streets. But it used to be that the number of American plates you could spot standing on any main street was comparable throughout the summer to what you see during Caribana.

I expect we'll see a rise for the next week or so with the AIDS conference, but overall I maintain that the number we see is down significantly.

 

[building babel]

Also, though, aren't we getting comparatively more tourists from Europe and Asia these days? They don't drive cars with American plates.

 

[BuildTO]

That's what I've heard in the media. Fewer Americans, more from overseas.