[GenerationW]

How to revive Toronto tourism? Easy, spend money on places like Ontario Place. Make it great again.

Looks like Ontario Place will be no more for the immediate future:
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1125044--cohn-ontario-place-is-dead-until-further-notice?bn=1

 

[adma]

Well, that's the point: it's "no more" supposedly in preparation for "making it great again"...

 

[nfitz]

It's civic pride. Montrealers have it. They just don't shut up about how awesome their city is.

Well they have to go on about it, as they clearly have nothing else to do, not having actually seen much of their degrading city over the last 30 years.

 

[Long Island Mike]

US Tourists visiting Toronto and the border crossing rules since 2008: A factor here?

While helping to organize a convention in Toronto for a US-based volunteer organization, I was gobsmacked by how unwilling many of our US members are to travel outside of the United States. We have gone as far as to include US passport application forms with our convention literature, all to very little effect. We have been met with fear, obstinance and ridicule for hosting a convention in a "foreign country" to the extent that we really worried that we can make it work.

At the same time, working downtown, I'm constantly meeting vacationers from Germany, France, England - not to mention far-off South America. The rest of the world is using their 5 or 6 weeks of vacation, while our neighbours to the south are closing the gates and not using their 2 weeks. It should be self-evident where our tourist ad dollars should be directed. They should be directed at countries where the culture embraces exploring and enjoying the world. And, I simply don't see that culture in almost all of the Americans that I have to deal with. Should we give up on Americans? Of course, not. But let's start plowing real money into fostering travel from parts of the world with a newly emerging middle class, like China and the South American countries.

C332: I read the interesting thoughts about members of the volunteer organization
that you belong to and their reluctance to visit Toronto or Canada: Has the tighter
border crossing rules and documentation requirements in effect since 2008 been a
contribution to this along with the drop in US visitors to Canada as I suspect that
it has? Are tourists reluctant to cross into Canada due to the potential "hassle factor" that both the US CBP and the CBSA has made to what used to be mostly
trouble-free?

As we know Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe Region has been and is a major attraction to those from places in the US that are close by in proximity: Western
New York and Eastern Michigan for starters...Are there numbers showing exactly how much less crossings and visits have dropped off since 2008?

I would not mind seeing also how many less US visitors are visiting cities like Montreal
and Vancouver and how the US tourist trade has affected them as good examples...

As you mentioned other foreign tourists are visiting cities like Toronto in increasing numbers-Are the requirements for them to enter Canada actually easier then it is now for those from the US?

I am one who thinks that a free-border "Schengen's Agreement" should be implemented for just our two countries and border security/immigration tightened
elsewhere to compensate...but with vast opinions and differences between us
could this ever happen and if so would it work smoothly?

Thoughts from LI MIKE

 

[Tewder]

Since the 1990s it's been one hard hit after another, in terms of declining US visitors: SARS, 9-11, the economic crash and the increase in border crossing rules that you mention. Tourists who come to Canada from other countries understand and accept what are essentially the very 'basic' requirements of foreign travel and so it isn't an issue with them in the same way it is with Americans, a great bulk of whom probably don't really understand why they have to cross a border anyway... I don't mean that in a bad way per se, it's just that whole engrained 'manifest destiny' thing. Hence the grumbling that can332 mentioned.

 

[yin_yang]

i think toronto is doing okay overall, it could be doing better in terms of leisure. but there is a lot of money coming through here now with all the finance going on. the money rubs off onto tourism.

 

[can332]

C332: I read the interesting thoughts about members of the volunteer organization
that you belong to and their reluctance to visit Toronto or Canada: Has the tighter
border crossing rules and documentation requirements in effect since 2008 been a
contribution to this along with the drop in US visitors to Canada as I suspect that
it has? Are tourists reluctant to cross into Canada due to the potential "hassle factor" that both the US CBP and the CBSA has made to what used to be mostly
trouble-free?

As we know Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe Region has been and is a major attraction to those from places in the US that are close by in proximity: Western
New York and Eastern Michigan for starters...Are there numbers showing exactly how much less crossings and visits have dropped off since 2008?

I would not mind seeing also how many less US visitors are visiting cities like Montreal
and Vancouver and how the US tourist trade has affected them as good examples...

As you mentioned other foreign tourists are visiting cities like Toronto in increasing numbers-Are the requirements for them to enter Canada actually easier then it is now for those from the US?

I am one who thinks that a free-border "Schengen's Agreement" should be implemented for just our two countries and border security/immigration tightened
elsewhere to compensate...but with vast opinions and differences between us
could this ever happen and if so would it work smoothly?

Thoughts from LI MIKE

Hi Mike,

The biggest stumbling block that we've encountered is the new requirement for U.S. citizens to hold passports (or enhanced DL's in some cases) when crossing the border. That is why we had included passport aps in our material. We were surprised by how few of our U.S. members actually had passports. Problem #2 seems just to be a certain fickleness that many Americans seem to have for leaving the U.S. right now. As a Canadian (and a Brit) who enjoys competing with my friends and family to see who can get the most foreign stamps into my passaport, I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around that mentality.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Who said tourism in Toronto was down? 2011 was a record year for visitors.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/01/30/toronto-tourism-record.html?cmp=rss

Toronto tourism has record year in 2011

Tourism Toronto reports that in 2011 the number of hotel room nights sold surpassed nine million for the first time.Tourism Toronto reports that in 2011 the number of hotel room nights sold surpassed nine million for the first time. (Andrew Lupton/CBC)

Officials say 2011 was a record year for tourism in Toronto.

Tourism Toronto says the number of hotel room nights sold surpassed nine million for the first time.

Also, for the first time since 2006, Toronto saw an increase in overnight visitors from the U.S. last year.

Tourism Toronto president David Whitaker says 2011 also saw growth in the number of visitors from overseas markets such as China, India, and Brazil.

Among the Canadian provinces, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta accounted for the most visitors to Toronto.

Due in part to increased demand, 1,118 new hotel rooms opened in Toronto in 2011, placing Toronto third in growth in North American cities behind New York City and Nashville.

 

[Tewder]

As a Canadian (and a Brit) who enjoys competing with my friends and family to see who can get the most foreign stamps into my passaport, I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around that mentality.

America is an enormously rich and diverse nation that includes many different geographies, climates and cultures etc, to an extent that Canada and certainly Britain do not. For this and other reasons (American insularity and exceptionalism for example) the 'See America' road trip is an integral part of American culture and is as ingrained in their identity as 'the grand tour abroad' might be in other places.

 

[gabe]

NYC had 50 million visitors Jesus!!! No wonder hotels are so expensive in that city!!!

 

[Ladies Mile]

America is an enormously rich and diverse nation that includes many different geographies, climates and cultures etc, to an extent that Canada and certainly Britain do not. For this and other reasons (American insularity and exceptionalism for example) the 'See America' road trip is an integral part of American culture and is as ingrained in their identity as 'the grand tour abroad' might be in other places.

This.

It's sometimes a bit surprising that so many of us fail to comprehend that the difference between southern Arizona and backwoods Maine is greater in terms of climate as and nearly as great in terms of culture than the difference between most regions in Europe. Vancouver and Halifax are practically twins compared to Boston and Tuscon.

 

[Tewder]

Yes, and the romantic notion - patriotic imperative in fact - of experiencing the grandeur of that 'coast to coast to coast' diversity has been a resilient cultural meme, from Kerouac to Route 66 - "See the USA in your Chevrolet!"

 

[yin_yang]

wow. anyone who owns two properties to rent in NYC, paris or london is probably retired...!

 

[Long Island Mike]

US/Canada Border Crossing Requirements...and other thoughts...

Hi Mike,

The biggest stumbling block that we've encountered is the new requirement for U.S. citizens to hold passports (or enhanced DL's in some cases) when crossing the border. That is why we had included passport aps in our material. We were surprised by how few of our U.S. members actually had passports. Problem #2 seems just to be a certain fickleness that many Americans seem to have for leaving the U.S. right now. As a Canadian (and a Brit) who enjoys competing with my friends and family to see who can get the most foreign stamps into my passaport, I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around that mentality.

C332: Thanks for the reply...

I have found that there is much mis-information when it concerns the new US-Canada
Border Crossing requirements...a passport is only absolutely necessary if you FLY
between the US and Canada...That is the most widely-used mistake...But I will also
add that a Passport is "As good as it gets" as far as documentation here is...

There are other documents that are acceptable such as enhanced drivers licenses that
are issued by the State of New York and Province of Ontario as good examples that
are valid for other crossing types-land,sea,rail...NEXUS and FAST cards also...

These links should help any one of us:
www.getyouhome.gov For Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative information...
www.cbsa.gc.ca Canada Border Services Agency
www.cbp.gov US Customs and Border Security

I do find the mentality interesting concerning crossing the border-I like that thought of
trying to collect as many stamps upon entering countries interesting...

The mentality here in North America is interesting concerning both the US and Canada
because of both of their sheer sizes and also the mention of how different attitudes
are in the US-Proximity to the Border has to amount for some of the thoughts here...

I will also now add that I have also no doubt that the US Dollar's lower value
as compared to the CDN Dollar must also be a factor also-the last I looked they both
were almost literally at par with one another...

Tewder mentions Toronto concerns in recent years like the SARS Epidemic as one
major problem occurring during the last decade as a good example affecting US
tourism and visits to Toronto...It was something that I now remember thanks to
it being brought up...

I do miss the days of more informal US/Canada border crossings as mentioned and
I do feel that it should be as smooth as possible for all of our US/CDN citizens here
in North America to visit each other but I will admit times have changed...

Thoughts from LI MIKE

 

[ladyscraper]

I do miss the days of more informal US/Canada border crossings as mentioned and
I do feel that it should be as smooth as possible for all of our US/CDN citizens here
in North America to visit each other but I will admit times have changed...

I miss it too and I'm sure that these new stricter rules will end up making us much more inconvenienced but not any safer.