Tourism in the Triangle

[Gard]

After seeing an article this morning about Wake county in regards to tourism this morning, I thought I'd start a tourism thread for the Triangle. Anyways, there is an article this morning in the N&O stating the Wake County is SECOND in the entire state in tourism. I was actually quite surprised by that, considering how popular the Outer Banks and Asheville-area is for tourists. Wake County, according to the article, made 1.5 billion in tourism revenue last year. Of an interesting note, it said "Raleigh is becomming the Smithsonian of the South."

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/wake/story/1171517.html

[castong]

This article uses some sketchy statistics. People who go to the museum aren't usually tourists, neither are people who stay in hotels.

[Jones_]

I agree....are they separating business travel from museum visits from coming to visit mom and dad? I don't know how you could. These numbers seem to be a straight reflection of population rank and nothing more.

[cthayes75]

Just think what our tourism would be if we had a "world class" 306 acre park too! And a "world class" light rail system!

[DanRNC]

Neither of which will ever happen. I think the fact that Charlotte and Raleigh are the 2 top tourist destinations in the state seems sketchy-I would visit either one of them for recreation.

[NCMike1981]

I personally can't picture the average family planning a vacation looking at NC and thinking "hey wanna go to the beach for a week? naah....the mountains? maybe later....I have an idea let's visit Raleigh!!!!" but this thinking may be a product of spending 85% of my life in the Triangle. Perhaps someone planning an educational type vacation and wants to visit the state museums, state capitol building, state flea market etc but I just don't really see much natural beauty in Wake County that sets it apart from other areas in the piedmont/coastal plain/mountains....is my vision just clouded on this b/c I'm a local?

[DPK]

I think what happens is you get families who like to take trips and think that "Hey, Raleigh's the capital so there must be some cool stuff to do there... right??!". Then they get the shock of their life.

Not to say that there isn't stuff to do here, because there is definitely tons. It's just that the stuff is generally not out in the open for visitors to come across. Stuff that I guess people like us who live here take for granted.

[Gard]

I think that part of the "tourism" that comes here is kids on field trips. I know of a couple schools in Charlotte that have taken fields trips here to take the kids to see the governor's mansion, state legislature, along with a couple museums and the like. Some, of course, don't see that because they live here, but there are many people that live in places that are much more "dead" than Raleigh. I came to Raleigh after living in towns with populations of less than 50k my entire life and to me, compared to where I came from, Raleigh is a really happening place. So for a person like me, having museums in town, an orchestra, pro sports team, etc, this place is exciting. Anyways, thought I'd share a different perspective of things with you all...

[DPK]

I think that part of the "tourism" that comes here is kids on field trips. I know of a couple schools in Charlotte that have taken fields trips here to take the kids to see the governor's mansion, state legislature, along with a couple museums and the like. Some, of course, don't see that because they live here, but there are many people that live in places that are much more "dead" than Raleigh. I came to Raleigh after living in towns with populations of less than 50k my entire life and to me, compared to where I came from, Raleigh is a really happening place. So for a person like me, having museums in town, an orchestra, pro sports team, etc, this place is exciting. Anyways, thought I'd share a different perspective of things with you all...

[ncwebguy]

There are a lot of "tourist" visits generated by NC State football and basketball/Carolina Hurricanes (opposing teams and out of town fans), RBC Center and Walnut Creek/Raleigh Memorial Auditorium/Downtown Raleigh Live performances, college and university graduations/weekend visits.

All this in additon to business meetings, school field trips, etc.

The "pure" vacation tourism is slim, but there are a decent number of families that don't want to do the beach/mountains/Disney thing year after year, and the area does provide a good alternative.