Can And Should Houston Become A Tourist Destination?

[Simbha]

@Tory: I think it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation.

I think a weekend jitney would do for the time being - and I think it would be used. It should be accompanied by a map of the city core with clearly marked pedestrian routes too. Then, the jitney service could be a single circular for the time being - perhaps once an hour service at each stop. If someone misses the bus, they could easily walk to another nearby destination.

As the usage increases, it could grow to be more frequent.

I'm not advocating any particular private/public partnership, but I'm aware that the woman who runs the Washington Avenue jitney service has been successful at doing so. Perhaps her service could be approached for a partnership of this sort.

[Houston19514]

Wow, I'm actually surprised that we perform so well! Holding our own against Atlanta (despite its airport and status as a media mecca), doing better than Seattle, and neither Dallas or Philly are even ranked in the top 10, despite having similar populations. Denver is also unranked despite its size, relative affluence, large airport, mountain backdrop, and the nearby recreational opportunities.

Its hard to compete with the history and urban grit of NYC, Boston, Chicago or San Francisco. Even if our population increases to match Chicago's, and our city is filled with shiny new skyscrapers, they will still have that advantage over us. Our beaches can't compare with Miami or southern California. We are not a seat of government. We haven't got a Hollywood-type draw. Aside from Latin America, we're stuck in the middle of the continent and by no means a gateway city to the world. Looking at this list, it makes a lot of sense why the top cities are what they are, and I can't see that we can change any of those factors that put us at a disadvantage.

That Houston is on the list is an accomplishment. Don't mess with success???

Most of this post makes a lot of sense. But saying "aside from Latin Ameria, we're stuckk in the middle of the continent and by no means a gateway city to the world" is just silly. Sort of like saying, "without its beaches, Miami would by no means be a tourist mecca."

Besides, the fact is, Bush Intecontinental Airport makes Houston a pretty substantial gateway city to the world even leaving aside Latin America (as preposterous as it is to do so). Roughly 35% of the international passengers to IAH this year will be to and from non-Latin American locations. That is more than 3 million passengers a year and growing pretty rapidly. Some time in 2012, IAH will join a VERY small group of airports that have non-stop service to every inhabited continent. Any way you slice it, Houston is a gateway city to the world. IAH is the seventh largest gateway airport (which makes Houston the sixth largest gateway city, since both JFK and EWR have more international traffic than IAH).

[Houston19514]

I'm not certain that this is the case. The Georgia Aquarium - according to its Wikipedia article - sold 290k annual passes in its first year, before closing down the program. And, it welcomed over 10 million guests within it first year. I seriously doubt all those people came from the surrounding region, but I could be wrong.

No, it did not have 10 million guests within its first year. According to their own website, they have had 11 million visitors since opening in November 2005. A June 29, 2009 news release on their website states that they welcomed their 10 millionth guest on June 25, 2009, 3 years 7 months after opening. That's about 232,558 visitors per month. Our own Houston Museum of Natural Science averages more than 250,000 per month. So, I'm thinking a sizable majority of those aquarium visitors probably are indeed from the surrounding region.

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/members-and-donors/about-us.aspx

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/newsroom/pressdetail.aspx?id=146

[Simbha]

No, it did not have 10 million guests within its first year. According to their own website, they have had 11 million visitors since opening in November 2005. A June 29, 2009 news release on their website states that they welcomed their 10 millionth guest on June 25, 2009, 3 years 7 months after opening. That's about 232,558 visitors per month. Our own Houston Museum of Natural Science averages more than 250,000 per month. So, I'm thinking a sizable majority of those aquarium visitors probably are indeed from the surrounding region.

OOPS! That was a typo. I meant something like "to-date." I wasn't paying attention to what I was saying.

And, your comparison is a fair one. I neglected to calculate annual figures, which - you're absolutely correct - are less than estimates of HMNS's visitor counts.

Fine! I give up on the Aquarium idea... (Actually, I still think it'd be a good idea, but it's correct that it likely won't be the draw I expected.)

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

we have two airports that are hubs for major airlines... You can't discount the domestic traffic!

anyway, one of the big problems Houston faces is the hotel tax and rental car tax imposed upon visitors to build Enron Minute Maid Park. When they instituted that, Houston lost a lot of convention business (getting strict on the titty bars at the same time didn't help, either)

So, what does Houston offer tourists?

1) Nasa

2) The Museum District

3) the dirty beaches at Galveston... lol

4) the rodeo

I'm not saying don't encourage tourism, I'm saying focus on restoring the convention business, since they spend more.... It seems like all we have now are the knitting convention, the OTC, and the quilting conventions.

For tourism, you have to offer something worth travelling for- and the only things I can think of are the Rodeo and, to a lesser extent, Nasa. You can find better beaches everywhere, if you have seen one art museum you have seen them all (unless you have a Mona Lisa there, eh), aquariums are a dime a dozen

[Simbha]

we have two airports that are hubs for major airlines... You can't discount the domestic traffic!

anyway, one of the big problems Houston faces is the hotel tax and rental car tax imposed upon visitors to build Enron Minute Maid Park. When they instituted that, Houston lost a lot of convention business (getting strict on the titty bars at the same time didn't help, either)

...

I'm not saying don't encourage tourism, I'm saying focus on restoring the convention business, since they spend more.... It seems like all we have now are the knitting convention, the OTC, and the quilting conventions.

Yeah, I agree that convention business here seems to lag. I don't know where to get accurate and recent numbers, but I found this site from February 2005 which, if (still) accurate, implies that we bring in a lot of business travelers - but fail at convention business. In fact, according to those numbers, we were the sixth highest ranked city for business travelers (I suppose, by volume) but 25th highest ranked for conventions. No other city on that list has as much of a difference (in that direction) as Houston.

Now, admittedly, the #1 and #2 tourist destinations in the US - New York City and Los Angeles - also fall down on this list. (NYC is #4 for business travelers but #19 for conventions, while LA is #2 and #14 respectively. The #4 designation for NYC for business leaves me wondering about the accuracy of the data, but we'll go with it...)

For tourism, you have to offer something worth travelling for- and the only things I can think of are the Rodeo and, to a lesser extent, Nasa. You can find better beaches everywhere, if you have seen one art museum you have seen them all (unless you have a Mona Lisa there, eh), aquariums are a dime a dozen

Well, not all museums are art museums - and I, personally, don't find much to love about the Mona Lisa. But, I understand your sentiment.

I think a key for Houston - in keeping with what you're suggesting, I believe - is to welcome business/convention/medical/other tourists to the city and provide them an experience that makes them want to extend their stay for a vacation. The elements of a city that Niche (see a previous post) would call 'time sinks' accomplish this, in my opinion. I believe these include museums, landmarks and performance arts. Then, as the city grows in its positive reputation from showing these people a good time, I think they'll come back with their families for a (strictly) vacation.

Does anyone know what organizations like the Museum District Association do to advertise their member institutions at conventions, if anything?

[ToryGattis]

Does anyone know what organizations like the Museum District Association do to advertise their member institutions at conventions, if anything?

I think the GHCVB has a full set of promotional materials for things to do in Houston that they roll out at any convention event, especially at the GRB. I think they must also do the same for Reliant - not as sure. And of course they have relationships with all the hotels that throw smaller conventions/meetings.

[Simbha]

Cool. I'll probably roll on over there to see what they've got. I've never actually been to the tourism office...

[ToryGattis]

This is the one open to the public (although I think the corporate offices are somewhere near the GRB). Tons of stuff, including brochures for every tourist attraction in the city. Worth browsing.

http://www.visithoustontexas.com/listing-details?id=25988

[Simbha]

Yeah. Thanks. I'm going to try to go today - if not, tomorrow. I'm actually going to take the rail up there from the museum district to get the full experience.

I'm not sure if I'm just wrong about this, but it seems odd that a tourist information center is not open on Sundays or in the evenings (at least on the weekends). Hmm...

[ToryGattis]

Inconvenient to some people - yes. Odd - not so much. I've traveled quite a bit and I seem to remember most official tourist centers (vs. the unofficial ones) having pretty normal business hours. I understand there's not much demand and the cost of keeping it open is high (esp. if it involves overtime), but it can be frustrating. And not just tourist centers - often I struggle to find attractions open after ~4pm, even in the summer when sunset isn't until 8 or 9. If you want to have a leisurely vacation and sleep in a bit (or just take it easy in the morning), you're often left with a very narrow afternoon time window to see attractions. Might be a conspiracy to encourage additional hotel nights and meals... ;-)

[TheNiche]

Most of this post makes a lot of sense. But saying "aside from Latin Ameria, we're stuckk in the middle of the continent and by no means a gateway city to the world" is just silly. Sort of like saying, "without its beaches, Miami would by no means be a tourist mecca."

Besides, the fact is, Bush Intecontinental Airport makes Houston a pretty substantial gateway city to the world even leaving aside Latin America (as preposterous as it is to do so). Roughly 35% of the international passengers to IAH this year will be to and from non-Latin American locations. That is more than 3 million passengers a year and growing pretty rapidly. Some time in 2012, IAH will join a VERY small group of airports that have non-stop service to every inhabited continent. Any way you slice it, Houston is a gateway city to the world. IAH is the seventh largest gateway airport (which makes Houston the sixth largest gateway city, since both JFK and EWR have more international traffic than IAH).

No, it is not like saying that. What I am saying is that a city that many international tourists pass through it to get to their final destinations is at a slight advantage over a similar city without that sort of traffic pattern. Houston is a large hub, and we do get a lot of international business travel, however (aside from Latin Americans), there aren't many international tourists that pass through. It is important to distinguish between international travelers and international tourists if Simbha's dataset reflects what he actually means to say about tourism...which I think it does.

[Simbha]

Is there data available that distinguishes between international travelers who... (i) travel to a specific airport to get to that airport's city as a destination and (ii) travel through a specific airport to get to another city?

[Houston19514]

No, it is not like saying that. What I am saying is that a city that many international tourists pass through it to get to their final destinations is at a slight advantage over a similar city without that sort of traffic pattern. Houston is a large hub, and we do get a lot of international business travel, however (aside from Latin Americans), there aren't many international tourists that pass through. It is important to distinguish between international travelers and international tourists if Simbha's dataset reflects what he actually means to say about tourism...which I think it does.

No disagreement about the advantage of a city with many international tourists passing through. The issue is your insistence on disregarding the Latin American traffic. That is just silly. Disregarding Houston's Latin American air traffic in a discussion of whether Houston is a world gateway city is indeed just like disregarding Miami's beautiful beaches in a discussion of whether Miami is a strong tourist destination.

[TheNiche]

No disagreement about the advantage of a city with many international tourists passing through. The issue is your insistence on disregarding the Latin American traffic. That is just silly. Disregarding Houston's Latin American air traffic in a discussion of whether Houston is a world gateway city is indeed just like disregarding Miami's beautiful beaches in a discussion of whether Miami is a strong tourist destination.

What percentage of the emplaned or deplaned passengers are foreign citizens traveling in the capacity of tourists, and from which we can expect any significant tourist expenditure? Traffic counts are not in and of themselves a very good indication of the volume of international tourism coming from Latin America, much less the impact of tourism.

I discount Latin America because it has neither the sheer population of Asia or the affluence of Europe. Therefore, I believe that it is implicit that cities on the American coasts have a quantitative economic advantage, even if that advantage is difficult to quantify. I further discount Houston's international air traffic because a lot of it are our own citizens (or Canadians, admittedly) on their way in or out of the country. Miami has a distinct advantage over us because it is a stopoff in between multiple international tourist origination and destination points; Europeans positively love the Carribean, for instance.

Try booking a flight from Frankfurt to St. Croix. Depending on the carrier's hub, you'll likely connect in New York, London, Washington D.C., or Miami. Try booking from Paris to Nassau. You'll probably connect in Miami, but possibly through New York, Atlanta, or Orlando. From London to Belize, you will connect through Houston if you fly Continental; any other selection of carrier will route you through your choice(!) of Miami (at the lowest price), New York, Chicago, Dallas, or various combinations of those cities.

Now try booking flights from east Asia. Since it is in the northern hemisphere, half-way around the world, the shortest distance is over the Arctic or Alaska. Tokyo flights in our direction would have to be en-route to Latin America to connect through Houston, but there are less expensive and sexier options. On a Tokyo to Caracas flight, Munich is the lowest-cost connection. There are also connections via Milan and Rome, Los Angeles and Miami, or Paris. ...but then again, how much tourism exists between Asia and Latin America? Really?

[Houston19514]

What percentage of the emplaned or deplaned passengers are foreign citizens traveling in the capacity of tourists, and from which we can expect any significant tourist expenditure? Traffic counts are not in and of themselves a very good indication of the volume of international tourism coming from Latin America, much less the impact of tourism.

I discount Latin America because it has neither the sheer population of Asia or the affluence of Europe. Therefore, I believe that it is implicit that cities on the American coasts have a quantitative economic advantage, even if that advantage is difficult to quantify. I further discount Houston's international air traffic because a lot of it are our own citizens (or Canadians, admittedly) on their way in or out of the country. Miami has a distinct advantage over us because it is a stopoff in between multiple international tourist origination and destination points; Europeans positively love the Carribean, for instance.

Try booking a flight from Frankfurt to St. Croix. Depending on the carrier's hub, you'll likely connect in New York, London, Washington D.C., or Miami. Try booking from Paris to Nassau. You'll probably connect in Miami, but possibly through New York, Atlanta, or Orlando. From London to Belize, you will connect through Houston if you fly Continental; any other selection of carrier will route you through your choice(!) of Miami (at the lowest price), New York, Chicago, Dallas, or various combinations of those cities.

Now try booking flights from east Asia. Since it is in the northern hemisphere, half-way around the world, the shortest distance is over the Arctic or Alaska. Tokyo flights in our direction would have to be en-route to Latin America to connect through Houston, but there are less expensive and sexier options. On a Tokyo to Caracas flight, Munich is the lowest-cost connection. There are also connections via Milan and Rome, Los Angeles and Miami, or Paris. ...but then again, how much tourism exists between Asia and Latin America? Really?

Even if everything in the above off-point rambling were true, it does not change the fact that your initial statement that Houston is not a " gateway city to the world" is clearly objectively false. Houston is in fact #6 among American "gateway cities to the world", soon to be one of the few cities in the world with nonstop service to every inhabited continent.

[TheNiche]

Even if everything in the above off-point rambling were true, it does not change the fact that your initial statement that Houston is not a " gateway city to the world" is clearly objectively false. Houston is in fact #6 among American "gateway cities to the world", soon to be one of the few cities in the world with nonstop service to every inhabited continent.

You stated, "The issue is your insistence on disregarding the Latin American traffic." I gave a response, the first paragraph. And then in the second paragraph, I connected the issue to one of the topics of the topics, which was the extent to which tourism is beneficial. International tourism has been the dominant theme of discussion, so I continued to put it in that context, explaining why I discount the Latin American traffic quantitatively and qualitatively. I spent the third and fourth paragraphs researching and ultimately discounting the possibility that foreign tourists might connect through Houston en route to Latin America or the Carribean.

In the context of our discussion, I believe that my input was on-topic. Your air traffic data, unfiltered for passenger status as resident or non-resident or for tourist or non-tourist, has very little bering on this discussion.

[Houston19514]

You stated, "The issue is your insistence on disregarding the Latin American traffic." I gave a response, the first paragraph. And then in the second paragraph, I connected the issue to one of the topics of the topics, which was the extent to which tourism is beneficial. International tourism has been the dominant theme of discussion, so I continued to put it in that context, explaining why I discount the Latin American traffic quantitatively and qualitatively. I spent the third and fourth paragraphs researching and ultimately discounting the possibility that foreign tourists might connect through Houston en route to Latin America or the Carribean.

In the context of our discussion, I believe that my input was on-topic. Your air traffic data, unfiltered for passenger status as resident or non-resident or for tourist or non-tourist, has very little bering on this discussion.

And your continued ramblings don't change the fact that Houston is in fact a major world gateway city.

Facts are stubborn things.

The numbers are what they are. Despite being, in your imagination, so poor and relatively sparsely populated that they should be ignored as irrelevant, somehow enough people manage to scrounge up the money for plane tickets betweenLatin America and Houston to help Houston attain its status as the seventh largest international gateway city (just as Latin American service contributes mightily to your model gateway city's (Miami's) status).

My earlier posts over-stated our ranking; I had forgotten Delta's fairly recent massive increase in Latin American service from Atlanta has moved them slightly above us.

[TheNiche]

And your continued ramblings don't change the fact that Houston is in fact a major world gateway city.

Your data is insufficient to support any conclusion that would relate to the subject matter being discussed in this thread. All we are left with is your disagreement over my use of an inherently imprecise figure of speech, but since nobody else seems confused or combative over it, I can only conclude that they understood my meaning.

But if you want to go there, I'll go there. International traffic at IAH comprises only 8.5% of the aggregate total for airports ranked as having more passenger traffic. The top tier is New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and the distances between us and them are fairly substantial. I would argue that in the same sense as that we're a second-tier metropolitan area in terms of population (despite being ranked 5th), and in the same sense as that we're a second-tier city where foreign capital investment is concerned (albeit probably the best-in-class), ours is also a second-tier international gateway. These are all highly subjective judgments, artful figures of speech, but they're mine and I've made them. You're welcome to argue semantics, but please do it quietly and to yourself. I am uninterested in your reply.

[ricco67]

If I may add a bit of news from Mexico, there are quite a few people that travel up to the northern cities (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, LA) for tourism and shopping. While the affluence of Europe may not be matched, those that ARE with the resources down south have considerable wealth. Being the way things are currently in Mexico, they want a safe place to be able to be relatively worry free compared to the major cities in Mexico.

Of course, all this is a bit anecdotal, and therefore by Niche's standards not reliable, it is the best that I got.

[samagon]

To the remark of iah and international traffic through there, there aren't many direct flights to Asia, if any?

And Europe only has access to a few places from here.

I don't know, but would image that has something to do with it. I'm sure with our huge Asian population, we'd have very good use of flights direct, as it is though, you have to fly to la, or some other large airport on the west coast, then you catch your international to Asia.

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

[Simbha]

In light of the direction that this conversation has turned (towards international passengers flying to or through airports), I looked at some numbers.

I'll spare you the details, instead simply stating that I ran international tourist estimates against both metro populations (to account for city size) and aggregate international passenger data.

Based on this overall data, I calculated an 'expected international tourism' for each city. I then compared the actual international tourism from each city to this estimate and computed the ratio. A ratio of larger than 100% indicates that the city does better in its tourism figure than expected and vice versa.

Here's what I found for the tourism cities I had cited earlier (with the exceptions of San Jose and San Diego):

Cities that do better than expected: Seattle (637%), Boston (270%), San Francisco (237%), Washington (122%), NYC (118%), and Miami (101%)

Cities that do worse than expected: Houston (40%), Atlanta (42%), Chicago (50%), and Los Angeles (76%)

I ran the figures for a larger dataset, but these are all the ones that I had cited earlier. One can argue with the methodology all one wants; I don't claim any veracity - other than moderate statistical validity - of the analysis. But, I will note that most of the cities traditionally thought of as international destinations are generally the ones that do show up in the 'better than expected' list.

Cities such as Seattle and Boston may reflect strong tourism from Canada. I would not be surprised if the bulk of the Seattle (international) tourism figures are from Vancouver (e.g.). The same could be true of Boston, which may receive a large number of tourists from eastern Canada. However, such interpretations are purely speculation on my part, as I don't have the finer data to support such statements.

Based on this analysis, it does seem that Houston is not capitalizing on its international passenger traffic (and/or population) as it could be. (The same could be said to be true of Chicago/Atlanta/LA.) This is likely reflective of Houston being a pass-through international airport, rather than a destination itself. I guess a major theme of this thread then is... Can - and how should - Houston capitalize on the international traffic it does see?

[Simbha]

If I may add a bit of news from Mexico, there are quite a few people that travel up to the northern cities (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, LA) for tourism and shopping.

I love how Houston is a 'northern city' here. It's all a matter of perspective.

[Houston19514]

If I may add a bit of news from Mexico, there are quite a few people that travel up to the northern cities (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, LA) for tourism and shopping. While the affluence of Europe may not be matched, those that ARE with the resources down south have considerable wealth. Being the way things are currently in Mexico, they want a safe place to be able to be relatively worry free compared to the major cities in Mexico.

Of course, all this is a bit anecdotal, and therefore by Niche's standards not reliable, it is the best that I got.

And in Niche's judgment, they don't count because they are Latin American. ;-)

[Houston19514]

But if you want to go there, I'll go there. International traffic at IAH comprises only 8.5% of the aggregate total for airports ranked as having more passenger traffic. The top tier is New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and the distances between us and them are fairly substantial. I would argue that in the same sense as that we're a second-tier metropolitan area in terms of population (despite being ranked 5th), and in the same sense as that we're a second-tier city where foreign capital investment is concerned (albeit probably the best-in-class), ours is also a second-tier international gateway. These are all highly subjective judgments, artful figures of speech, but they're mine and I've made them. You're welcome to argue semantics, but please do it quietly and to yourself. I am uninterested in your reply.

To sum up our conversation, Niche has moved from his initial statement that Houston "is by no means a gateway city to the world", a statement that I challenged with passenger traffic and destination facts. Niche now says that Houston is a "second-tier international gateway."

So, we are now in agreement that Niche's initial statement regarding Houston's status as a gateway city was incorrect.

[TheNiche]

And in Niche's judgment, they don't count because they are Latin American.

No, that's a straw man fallacy.

To sum up our conversation, Niche has moved from his initial statement that Houston "is by no means a gateway city to the world", a statement that I challenged with passenger traffic and destination facts. Niche now says that Houston is a "second-tier international gateway."

So, it seems that Niche now agrees that his initial statement regarding Houston's status as a gateway city was incorrect.

Yet another straw man. The first time you quoted me, you at least quoted an entire sentence: "Aside from Latin America, we're stuck in the middle of the continent and by no means a gateway city to the world." We are a gateway to Latin America. No doubt about that. Excepting that market segment, we're nothing particularly special.

Also, I am not challenging your facts; I am challenging the validity and relevance of your facts to this conversation. Citing them over and over does nothing to advance our conversation.

Be gone, troll!

[Houston19514]

No, that's a straw man fallacy.

Yet another straw man. The first time you quoted me, you at least quoted an entire sentence: "Aside from Latin America, we're stuck in the middle of the continent and by no means a gateway city to the world." We are a gateway to Latin America. No doubt about that. Excepting that market segment, we're nothing particularly special.

Also, I am not challenging your facts; I am challenging the validity and relevance of your facts to this conversation. Citing them over and over does nothing to advance our conversation.

Be gone, troll!

ROFL. The lengths to which you will go to avoid admitting error never cease to amaze. I am sure no one on this board will be surprised that, even after having typed the words "ours is a second tier international gateway" you aren't man enough to admit the initial error or the contradiction with your initial statement that "we are by no means a gateway to the world"' but rather choose to continue your usual antics. Carry on.

[TheNiche]

ROFL. The lengths to which you will go to avoid admitting error never cease to amaze. I am sure no one on this board will be surprised that, even after having typed the words "ours is a second tier international gateway" you aren't man enough to admit the initial error or the contradiction with your initial statement that "we are by no means a gateway to the world"' but rather choose to continue your usual antics. Carry on.

There goes Houston19514, again, trying to get in the last word...repeating his straw man fallacies over and over and over, as though repeating a delusion enough times will somehow make it true.

[LarryDierker]

To the remark of iah and international traffic through there, there aren't many direct flights to Asia, if any?

there used to be one to Tokyo in the late 90's when I was bartender at IAH President's Club, it left at like 10:30 AM and brought a big surge of customers to the bar.

[ToryGattis]

We still have the nonstop to Tokyo (UA/CO), and my understanding is it does route a lot of Asian traffic headed to Latin America. Singapore Air also connects to Asia with a stop in Moscow. Not technically part of Asia, but New Zealand is supposed to start this year, which will bring ANZ folks through the hub.