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Tourism in GR


torgo

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If this project is a big mixed use thing that will be the "entertainment hub of the midwest", then what kind of an impact will it have on the GR tourism industry? I would assume we'd see a lot more, but how much? Will we see more DT hotels proposed in the next few years?

And how much tourism do we experience right now? To me, it doesn't seem like there isn't a lot of tourism here. Who has the skinny on tourism in GR?

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There would have to be airport expansion if it were that big, The current ramp proposed would help, and i very much agree with the 60 million dollar canopy thing, but we'd need another terminal or something, right now I still think GRR looks like it should have goats grazing on the runways.

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There would have to be airport expansion if it were that big, The current ramp proposed would help, and i very much agree with the 60 million dollar canopy thing, but we'd need another terminal or something, right now I still think GRR looks like it should have goats grazing on the runways.

i like the talk about airport expansion. i think it is a worthy topic to discuss if we are going to see growth anywhere near what is speculated in the next 20 years. does anyone know if there are any long term plans in place for expansion, or if they are currently working on plans, and if so, what they include?

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Well I think all talk of expansion is pretty much null, for any true expansion to be needed, they would need to expand the carrier base, add flights, and make the airport more competitive. Grand Rapids, really should have a mid level airport, but there are so many regional passenger airports around it. However, if this developement is big enough to attract outside residents, ones with $, you could see it happen sooner than you think.

I'd love! to see Southwest, buy some gates at Ford, If they did, I think you'd see a huge jump in passenger traffic. Lets start a letter writing campaign

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Instead of just going to the beach to par-ty, might we also interest you in a town called Grand Rapids, they have this wonderful new dealio called, River Grand. ITs cool check it out. By just the shear size of this new project I am assuming this mother is comming with its own advertising department. I just can't see West Coast advertising blits really setting GR as a destination hub ;)

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My guess is the AmTrak rail hub plays into these plans. I don't see much tourism from the West Coast to GR with this development, but rather see the target being Chicago and to a lesser degree, Detroit and Indianapolis. With an expansion on the depot for AmTrak service into the area, I could see the developers targetting weekend AmTrak "day trips" from Chicago into GR for entertainment purposes.

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We still haven't heard anything that is going to draw people from the Midwest yet. Right now all we know is an urban mall, a theater and concert venue.

We don't really know that, do we? That PDF that was distributed is a year old, so all that stuff might not be in the new plans. I think all that all we can assume right now is that it will be huge and mixed-use with a large focus on entertainment stuff. I would guess that it contains those things, but I guessed at a lot of stuff before and wasn't even close! :lol:

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that is a good! but why us?

We aren't called gravity rapids for nothing. Everyone I know who is from here or lived here for a while is interested in and rooting for what is going on here. It must be something in the water (besides the fluoride :P )

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I'd love! to see Southwest, buy some gates at Ford, If they did, I think you'd see a huge jump in passenger traffic. Lets start a letter writing campaign

No. No. No Southwest please. Jet-Blue is the much better carrier, and its much :shades:. Jet Blue is the new Pan Am.

Southwest, it just looks like someone whizzed on their planes and said lets fly!

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No. No. No Southwest please. Jet-Blue is the much better carrier, and its much :shades:. Jet Blue is the new Pan Am.

Southwest, it just looks like someone whizzed on their planes and said lets fly!

much like the 1950's took a crap at DTW and someone said, "hey, lets call this the smith terminal"?

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Southwest, it just looks like someone whizzed on their planes and said lets fly!

Also happens to be one of the only profitable and most well run airlines around today. Who cares what the planes look like, if they can keep them safely in the air at a low cost.

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No. No. No Southwest please. Jet-Blue is the much better carrier, and its much :shades:. Jet Blue is the new Pan Am.

Southwest, it just looks like someone whizzed on their planes and said lets fly!

Snoogit-

This should interest you and kind of makes sense with the Project X getting leaked. Back in November, I was in a meeting and listened to discussion of someone outside GR making very strong presentations to Jet Blue to begin buying up gates at FORD. Funny, at the time I just silently thought - "yea right". But know I think it just proves that some of the top tier power brokers have an insight as to what was coming. I have not heard since whether Jet Blue was coming, but when I flew out of GR last Monday I asked one of the ticket agents about Jet Blue and she said that alot of the airport workers have been hearing JB is might be coming :)

I highly recommed reading the book "Jet BLue" which chronicles the CEO and how/why he started JB. It is an amazing and inspiring story!

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yeah southwest is a really good carrier and the smartest business-wise, if GR really does become a tourism destination which it is not right now, the airport could definatly support both carriers, recently US airways, ATA, Air Canada, and chicago express all left the airpot and I cant remember any new carriers comming in.

Talk of future airport expansion include the ramp (very likely), gate expansion on the current terminal (like 5-10 more), move the car rentals down Patterson, and building a direct access to I96 via a tunnel under the small runway comming out at the 36th street extension exit.

I would love to see all this happen and if GR does actually become a national draw, this could be excellerated.

The bad thing about the airpot right now is the location, not having direct freeway access and being 20 min SE of downtown, if it was built on the west side of town it would have been more of a west MI regional airport but theres nothing you can do about that, and people forget that Muskegon draws a lot of muskegon and ottawa people from GRR.

I think there will be continous work and improvement on the airport with the constant growth it has and hopefully has a big jump soon

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would Jet Blue give us a competive edge? I don't know that much about them, I know they are nowhere near as big as Southwest, But if they have connections to places that I want to go, and are cheaper than Northwest (not that it would be hard) I'd probabally cry tears of joy.

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much like the 1950's took a crap at DTW and someone said, "hey, lets call this the smith terminal"?

Exactly.

their really non existing in the mid section of the country and if they came here, hopefully would give us some more connecs out west, Oakland and Long Beach are hubs.

http://www.jetblue.com/travelinfo/routemap.asp

I'd love to have Jet Blue make GRR the hub for their midwest expansion.

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I'd love to have Jet Blue make GRR the hub for their midwest expansion.

Is the success of the smaller players predicated on not having any hubs and only flying direct? How much more is it worth it to you guys to fly direct? I'd pay $30-50 dollars more, would that be high or low compared to the rest of you?

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