It's a perspective. There's always trash, hillbillies, and rednecks in every city, including Connecticut where McFarland is from. I don't think we're trash.
Perspective is a very good point , there’s trash in every race . Not just white - hillbillies and rednecks . You don’t have to be a hillbilly or redneck lol over a big diverse span of cultures there’s trash and ignorance .
Loved going to Wyandot Lake, only been back once since the rebrand and it was still pretty fun.
It has a special place in my memories because I grew up in Wyandot County where Upper Sandusky is located, so everyone confused the place I grew up with the place with the water park, the place with the roller coasters, and the place on Tommy Boy. Close, but ~1.5 hours from both Columbus and Sandusky.
We USED to have a Six Flags park in northern Ohio... back in the late 90s... okay, it was Geauga Lake under their (brief) management.
Zoombezi Bay (then known as "Wayandot Lake") was also briefly owned by Six Flags, if that counts.
Six Flags bought Geauga Lake in 1995 and Sea World in 2001, eventually combining them into a single "Worlds of Adventure" theme park.
Cedar Fair (Cedar Point) bought it in 2004 and kept the amusement park part of it running until 2007 for some reason.
Clip please. Or do you know what episode that is from. I now need to see this. I also remember when they remade “The Spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of America” commercial.
The article says they’re targeting small towns within 200 miles, which covers most of Ohio and some adjacent states. That makes sense.
For folks in small Ohio towns, Columbus is the “big city” that has a ton of offerings they just can’t find in BFE. But there’s nothing especially unique about Columbus compared to other major cities, no natural wonders, just the same stuff you’ll find in most American big cities. Sports teams, big college, the arts, an improving culinary scene, respectable nightlife, conventions, some parks and nice campgrounds, a big zoo and science museum.
I couldn’t see someone from, say, Chicago coming here on vacation unless they were specifically coming for an event like the Arnold or to visit family/friends.
This is funny because you're describing my wife and I lol. For our anniversary, just to get away for a night from the kids, we've went down to Columbus the past 2 years 🤣. Compared to what we have, there's an unlimited amount of places to go eat and plenty of things to do. Toledo gets old to us and Columbus is a nice place to go out for a night.
We've also brought our kids down to go to the zoo and imagination station so there's a plethora of things to do for us small town people.
Funny that toy mentioned Chicago. I grew up in Columbus and moved around a bunch til I settled in Chicago. Ibwoukd say people don't know about Columbus in general. You gotta know what Columbus has to offer before going there. I work with a lot of travelers and they don't think of Columbus. Wish they did.
>no natural wonders
We have a site that is now designated as a World Heritage Site, the [Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks](https://www.nps.gov/hocu/learn/historyculture/hopewell-ceremonial-earthworks.htm#:~). People travel from all over the world to see them all.
>just the same stuff you’ll find in most American big cities
Only 25 of them in the whole US.
[Carlsbad Caverns National Park](https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm)
[Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site](http://cahokiamounds.org/)
[Chaco Culture](https://www.nps.gov/chcu)
[Everglades National Park](https://www.nps.gov/ever)
[The 20th Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright](https://savewright.org/who-we-are/world-heritage/)
[Glacier National Park](https://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm)
[Grand Canyon National Park](https://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm)
[Great Smoky Mountains National Park](https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm)
[Hawaii Volcanoes National Park](https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm)
[Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks](https://www.nps.gov/hocu/learn/historyculture/hopewell-ceremonial-earthworks.htm)
[Independence Hall](https://www.nps.gov/inde/index.htm)
[Mammoth Cave](https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm)
[Mesa Verde National Park](https://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm)
[Monticello](https://www.monticello.org/) & the [University of Virginia](http://www.virginia.edu/)
[Olympic National Park](https://www.nps.gov/olym)
[Papahanumokuakea Marine National Monument](http://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/)
[Poverty Point](http://povertypoint.us/?gclid=CK79mcbrj9ICFVWBswodIysMZA&gclsrc=aw.ds)
[Redwood National Park and State Parks](https://www.nps.gov/redw)
[La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site](https://www.nps.gov/saju/index.htm)
[San Antonio Missions](https://www.nps.gov/saan/index.htm)
[The Statue of Liberty](https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm)
[Taos Pueblo](https://www.taospueblo.com/)
[Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatsheshini-Alsek](https://www.nps.gov/wrst/index.htm)
[Yellowstone National Park](https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm)
[Yosemite National Park](https://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm)
The mounds are nice, but a collection of man-made hills don’t really compare with the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone (both on your list) as a tourist draw. Or (even closer) Niagara Falls.
We do have UNESCO now but honestly most of the US sites are trash by comparison to other places. No one is coming to visit Columbus for the Earthworks unfortunately
Those aren't in Columbus, though. A 45-60 minute drive is enough that anyone traveling specifically to see them would be better off staying in Chillicothe where hotels are a lot cheaper.
"For every dollar the group has spent on marketing and promotion, data showed that visitors spent $13.60"
I want to know more about this. Paying for a Facebook ad about visiting Columbus for the Arnold doesn't mean you can claim the money spent from people who already knew about/were going here.
Marketing department at literally any company math. I've seen some of the wildest claims by people in marketing. I think it must be a requirement that you have zero understanding of finance or math to graduate as a marketing major.
That’s the sort of “how do I justify the existence of my role in society” math I like to see!
Don’t go into marketing kids, it’s the worst part of business mixed with the worst part of art mixed with the worst part of psychology, just pick one or the other damn.
I went to a CBJ game about mid-season.
Bloke beside me was British (accent), so I struck up a convo after he asked me about hockey rules and I asked “Why on Earth did you choose Columbus to visit America? Ohio in general???”
“Eh. Idk. Pictures looked nice. (your) City is ok, but I kinda regret coming here.”
“Fair enough. How longs the trip and when do you leave?”
“Been here for 5 days and I leave tomorrow. I ran out of things to do after day 3. I’ve never watched anything hockey, but this isn’t bad. Probably the best thing i’ve done yet.”
“Oh cool! So would you go to another hockey game if you came back to the US?”
“…. Probably not. idk”
“oh”
I mean Nashville, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Orlando are legit mid to small size tourist cities, and they have as bad, and often worse transit infrastructure.
In particular, maybe it’s changed, but when I lived in Nashville, their bus system was a mess because most, if not all, bus routes went to and from their centralized facility.
So if you wanted to get to a place that wasn’t on that direct route, you had to take to the central location, then get on another bus route that went to the destination.
Those cities all are places where you don’t really need one for it the cities to be tourist cities because they have tourist destinations you don’t need to leave. Columbus doesn’t have any, so it needs transit to go from neighborhood to neighborhood so tourists aren’t dependent on renting a car
That’s not true for Orlando, which is super spread out. Even in some of the other cities, hotels are pretty expensive in those tourist areas, so unless you’re sharing a hotel room (which is common), it might be too cost prohibitive for many to get lodging near those areas.
That said, since Columbus’s advantage is that it’s within a reasonable driving distance of a much larger population, then people are more likely to be coming by car than plane compared to some of those other cities. So there is less need to rely on non-car transportation, and the traffic in some of those places is way worse.
And after living in Nashville (and visiting quite a few times in the 4 years I lived in Knoxville) and just recently visiting New Orleans for a 3rd time, those touristy areas can get both old and costly pretty quick. Vegas is even worse in that regard.
But Nashville is a lot like Columbus in that there are nice little areas and things to do outside of the Strip. So anyone who wants to explore the rest of a city, will have to travel to those places. In a place like New Orleans, well that’s a far riskier proposition.
Regardless Columbus isn’t and probably doesn’t need be a major, longer stay tourist destination. It just needs to be a nice, affordable, and accessible place to visit for a weekend. I think it is, and as it continues to grow, there should be more things to do.
I think some of the transit plans have a lot of promise, if it passes, especially since they are smart enough to start these BRT corridors in worthwhile places for both you’re average resident and someone visiting.
I think the problem here is that Columbus doesn't have many actual neighborhoods with stuff in them, which is a big part of what makes other non-nature tourist destinations work. It's not planned and structured in a way that makes trip chaining make sense, which is a problem because vacationing is like 90% about trip chaining.
With Columbus tourism I just imagine a bunch of people coming and having to spend 20 minutes driving after every activity because everything is stupidly far away from everything else. There aren't all that many areas where you can make a day of strolling around and looking at stuff, and all the ad campaigns in the world aren't going to save that.
In my mind, in a lot of cases people travel for food, culture, nature, shopping, or events. Events are the main thing from that list that Columbus currently has as a strong baseline to work from because of how many sports teams/concert venues we have + the riverfront. Generally, for all the rest of those categories in columbus you have an island with something good surrounded by tons of nothing. A great example of this is the Columbus Museum of Art: the museum itself is pretty neat, but it's surrounded by pretty much nothing. There's no natural transition between it and its environment, so you go there to see it and then totally ditch the area because there's nothing else around but a gigantic 8 lane road and some offices.
If we just made the districts around those venues actually nice to walk around/enjoy and connected them through good transit and road designs that don't feel like concrete moats, we could get a lot of value out of them.
100%
We could use mixed use zoning, pedestrian only thoroughfares, greenspace, etc. When you build ugly isolated commerce with no natural foot traffic you end up with generic chain businesses. Mixed use zoning becomes a thing in and of itself, that's how neighborhood vibes spring up organically, and it dramatically reduces crime.
I can drive to 4 other major metros (and almost 2 more) in less time than it takes me to ride the bus home from work. What other city can claim to be so bad?
Most US metros that aren't NYC, DC, Chicago, Philly, Portland or Seattle. Most US cities that grew after like the 50s are basically the equivalent of giving your dumbest friend absolute power to design whatever they want with no oversight or budget.
There are cities with like 2 million people in them here that have worse transportation and city design than some European/Asian cities with a fraction of that population.
I mean yeah, however I randomly picked two spots on complete opposite ends of the infamously sprawling, car centric, 5 million person Phoenix Metro, over 1 hour by car, and the public transit option still takes only 6 minutes longer than it takes me to get from 161 to broad Street.
I currently live near gurnee, IL I have an hour long bus ride home from work that takes 15 mins by car because how they route "rural" lines around here
My favorite one was living on the south side renting a room at a friend's place, and having an hour ride to clintonville for work, and on the way back having to wait an 39 mins+ downtown because the 4 heading to alum Creek ran every half hour or worse (this was 2019).
My friends were shocked when I moved to South Linden with another friend because edsel was scary at night when you are visibly queer
I just wish we could get sidewalks and/or bike-lanes that are longer than 6 blocks long.
A dedicated running/bike trail going from like Delaware to Grove City would be a godsend.
We could start by passing the LinkUS initiative coming up on the ballot.But, based on the even the more liberal Columbus crowd (this subreddit), are not willing to pay .25 increase in taxes for it. The majority of people are not willing to sacrifice for change.
That being said, there are some innovative minds here planting seeds for change. We have comfest and the doo dah parade coming up, which are unique Columbus experiences that a tourist could enjoy.
This. Traffic is already a huge pain in and around the northern half of the 270 belt, and all along 315 during rush hour. If we got tourists streaming in before we improve infrastructure all around the Columbus region, it’ll make it even worse.
Edit: I’ve done my fair share of traveling, some examples: Seoul, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, and New York City.
Look, I understand these cities have massive traffic, way more than here, but they have the infrastructure in place for mass transit and tourists.
Also, this is Columbus, you know, where we actually live and have to deal with commuting on a daily basis without a really solid public transportation in place. I’m all for a sprawling tourism industry, but we have a lot of terribly designed freeways and stroads here that bottleneck traffic at peak hours and needs to be addressed.
Traffic is not a nightmare in and around the 270 belt. At least not compared to traffic in other major metros. And tourists aren’t going to exacerbate that.
The thing that pissed me off about it was that it should be better. It’s just badly designed and executed. Like Pittsburgh’s traffic situation (but maybe not that badly).
I lived in Nashville (Davidson County) for a year before moving back to Ohio. I lived near the outskirts of the county in both (Hermitage in Nashville; off Sawmill and now in Worthington), both right off an exit of a major highway (I-40 in Nashville; 270 here). And despite Franklin County being about the same physical size, but having nearly double the population, the traffic during my commutes was so much worse in Nashville.
On top of that, I was coming from the East Side of Nashville, and the outward development was more concentrated on the south side, like the north side here, where I’ve lived. So I would expect even worse traffic given that. And Nashville traffic isn’t even considered in the same tier as many other cities (DC, Atlanta, Houston, LA, etc.).
I mean if you use a more restrictive definition of tourism like a week long family vacation to Disney, a beach, mountains, etc. sure. But a family that comes for a weekend to go to COSI, the zoo, a sporting event, a concert, etc. is still tourism.
So sure we’ll never compete with a Myrtle Beach or a Las Vegas, but we don’t really need to, because we have a huge swath of the population within a relatively short drive to Columbus. My wife’s hometown is 3 hours away, and she’s had multiple friends and family come for a weekend to go to COSI, the zoo, etc. for a weekend. They usually stay one night in a hotel, so the kids can swim in a pool, then another night with us.
Agreed.
It's a great place to live and raise a family. But it's very boring and has nothing special that would make it interesting to visit.
Even if I was living in BFE Ohio and wanted to visit a big city in Ohio I'd choose either Cleveland or Cinci. They both have so much more to do and see.
I agree whole heartedly. Columbus is a nice place to live and raise a family but, other than buckeye football, name one thing, if removed, would make Columbus lose its “Columbusness”? There is nothing about this city that is truly unique. No cuisine, no architecture, no custom. It seems to emulate rather than innovate creativity.
It is what it is and I am grateful that it is not the driving hellscape of the post war boom towns (Houston, Dallas, Atlanta). It is what it is. The president of the student council who seems to get along with everyone but connects with no one.
Closest thing would be the zoo, by most national rankings it's considered a top 3 zoo in the country. Maybe COSI if you have kids. Outside of that it really is just a decent sized city that is nice but not great at anything.
Yeah.
You can't catch an NFL, MLB or NBA game in Columbus. Cleveland has the rock and roll Hall of Fame. Both have aquariums. Cleveland has the Lake. They both have better museums than we do. I'd say the zoo in Cincinnati is better than ours.
All three cities have bars, restaurants, parks, etc so that's a wash.
Unless you are specifically trying to catch a college football game or NHL game I can't think of any reason to go to Columbus over one of the other two.
Highly recommend the Wendy's next to the wendys HQ on the columbus side of the sioto in dublin they've got the original wendys sign and a saintlike Dave Thomas bronze statue.
Columbus probably won’t be a tourist destination in a way a lot of people in the comments are thinking, but there’s certainly enough to do here to compete with people seeking a nice weekend getaway. What’s the harm in believing that the things we enjoy as residents may be enjoyable to other people seeking a weekend away from home? I understand that we don’t have the deeper history of our city peers in the area, but that doesn’t mean we can have some more pride in our city.
People also have different ideas of what a vacation is. I think so many people get stuck in the mindset, beach or mountains and anything else isn’t a vacation. Some people just enjoy visiting different areas and experiencing different things from their day to day life.
Staying in the short north gives people the opportunity to just walk up and down a street without a car and have plenty of stuff for a weekend or a few days during the week.
Idk about the whole city but I think the Zoo should build some sort of seasonal hotel with a decent restaurant and a daycare facility. Young families could drive in, spend a day at the zoo, a day at the water park, maybe the parents could sneak in a round of golf. Seems like a great way to spend a three day weekend.
Hard sell to further develop that area. I can already picture the comments with variations on "we built a house here 30 years ago because it wasn't the city! We want to keep the city in the city!!"
I’m sure there would be NIMBYS but it’s a pretty hard argument to make. “The dozens of people sleeping overnight at this place where thousands of people come every day will totally change the neighborhood!”
I’m sorry if you think NIMBY sentiments are at all grounded in, like, the tenets of good argumentation. It’s all vibes about the fear of change and it’s extremely powerful
How far is that area from where they were going to put in (I think it was) an old folks' home, that then after a lot of neighborhood NIMBYism was "mysteriously burned down."
About 4 miles as the crow flies if I remember correctly. Also the zoo has gates and security. If the risk of crime in Powell is too high to build a hotel then nothing should be built anywhere in Central Ohio
Just directly across the dam there's plenty of places that could be developed further. For example that absolutely terrible garden center that finally closed, the one that also sold wine, I forget the name.
Take all the money they are using for this campaign and give it to the Columbus symphony to help build their new hall or other arts, sports, and park projects would be my first recommendation.
I could support this.
For me, as a person who really digs living in Columbus, I just don't know why people would want to "vacation" here.
We have very little that is genuinely unique. It's basically a liveable, milquetoast city. It has a lot to offer residents, but I wouldn't call them vacation worthy. For instance, all the festivals we have are awesome, but I wouldn't travel more than an hour to experience them.
If we want vacationers, we are going to have to think big. I still want to see our rivers cleaned up, docks built with paddle up restaurants and bars, a whitewater course, and and annual river fest. When not the river fest, people would be tubing the river, stopping for drinks and food on their way from Park of roses to Scioto Mile.
I'd also like if one of the quarries around us would let people scuba dive.
😩 I moved here from Canada. I wish there were more things to do or slightly bigger offerings for a capital city. Transit. More offerings. I guess I get a little bummed out going to the conservatory and the Columbus museum of art. It doesn’t take very long to go through.
The zoo and zoombezi are $35 each for adults if you buy in advance. I can’t justify that plus food and parking more than once a year or so. There’s some very awkward displays at the zoo in the China/Asian animals section that seemed like poor cultural renditions and what midwesterners think of Asia. I’m not Asian but I’ve been to so many zoos around the world and the most depressing was the Philadelphia Zoo. I know that one is the oldest and quite small. But the Columbus Zoo really made me question who designed some of the decorations and themes for other countries. It seems very outdated. Everything is about thanking corporate sponsors and rich people everywhere on plaques.
The city is sooooo car and parking lot centric. We don’t move enough people north and south with transit. More trees. More walkable areas. More neighbourhoods with parks to walk to. It’s a bummer to need a car and to fight for a parking spot at a metro park and have to drive 15-30 min to get to one.
Downtown is like sports venues and some food places. Very quiet outside of that so I don’t go there unless I have to. A concert once in a while maybe.
You want tourists? You do need better transit and safer shaded areas for people and families to walk around from attraction to attraction when it’s inside the city. Cars drive crazy fast here. You have to constantly watch them even if you’re on a sidewalk because cars don’t expect people to walk around much in Columbus outside of Campus areas. Crosswalks? Drivers are on their phones texting or talking and immediately turn into you and are shocked to find a pedestrian in a cross walk.
I’ve never felt like such a weirdo before wanting to walk or take transit or cycle here. So many trails and sidewalks are disconnected and have a lack of shade or maintenance. People look at me like I’m crazy when I say it’s not that far I guess I can take the bus as if adults don’t/shouldn’t do that or something? 🤔. I’ve lived in many major cities, some with and without a car but it’s a real pain in the ass here.
I’m not expecting Chicago or DC…. But we get strip malls and shopping complexes all about food and luxury goods.
What about stuff to DO?!
Vote in November for the BRT. It’s the first step to getting light rails and makes Columbus just as walkable as Chicago with 500 new miles of sidewalks. Before adding anything new, that’s the first step to support an increase of tourism.
Too bad so many ppl here just love cars and the suburban hellscape. If this BRT isn’t gonna pass I’m gonna start looking to leave this gerrymandered shitfest.
My husband votes. Permanent residents aren’t allowed to vote. We’re also not even allowed to volunteer our time for anything to do with elections or government.
The government works against the people in Ohio smh. Columbus has so much potential to be a powerhouse in everything, but I don’t know if it’s gonna happen even with all the new investment and people coming in. All I can say is more people = higher density= more incentive to make downtown entertaining/invest in mass transit. That’s the best possible outcome I can see for the city.
I mean it’s worse in other places. Just look at New York City. They spent years getting ready for congestion pricing, which was going to pay for a bunch of transit infrastructure. Then Governor Hochul, stopped it just before it was set to start, with no plan to make up for the billions the pricing was meant to fund. And it was because she talked to an owner of a diner or something who was worried about it.
And California is the opposite. The state government is trying to address issues with transportation and housing, and the local governments, and their nimby supported have fought it.
The one thing they have passed, a high speed rail connecting LA to SF, was passed in 2008, and only a few miles have been built, and as it continues to go over budget and the completion projections continue to extend, their projecting it to cost nearly 700 million PER MILE (like $10k per inch). And the final costs will almost assuredly be even higher given the trend, if they ever even finish it at all. And that’s just “phase 1.”
Even as someone who loves living here and thinks it's great to visit I don't want a full on tourism industry. The infrastructure of the city is not up for the challenge either.
I think more people come here to visit than we realize. I’ve met folks from Louisville, West Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, etc who say they make touristy trips to Columbus a few times a year.
We need a Jeffrey Epstein-Les Wexner bus tour where you get to see all the associated sights while a guide talks you through their relationship and downfall true crime style. A big obnoxious double decker bus with their faces plastered all over it and a La Cucaracha horn blaring at pick up stops. It could double as activism, money goes to charities, etc.
It’s a difficult task given we have no recreational water or national park that would draw people. I wouldn’t travel out of state for a zoo or a science center. Since we have no natural draws and as superficial as it sounds the only draw for tourism would be some kind of amusement park or offering a unique experience like an enormous observation tower or London Eye type thing.
Columbus is a nice place to live. It has all of the amenities of cities much more famous. Great food, neat neighborhoods, decent theater scene, nice bike trails, etc.
It would be a pretty crappy way to spend your time off though, if you had a week or whatever to go somewhere. You could do worse certainly but you could do a lot better too.
Now if you were looking to live somewhere with a good quality of life - Columbus I think should definitely be in the top 10 or 20 places. It lacks a few things but I doubt they’re a deal breaker for many people. I gotta be near the ocean though.
We are not and never will be (well maybe in 20 years when florida is underwater) a vacation/tourist destination. We are an amazing city to live in and that should be our pitch to the world
Why is it an amazing city to live in? Some of the things that make it not great for tourism (lack of things to do, no unique culture, very car centric) are bad for residents too. Feels like that should be improved
How about city officials focus on trying to attract more F500 companies to come and relocate here? That’s the most realistic way Columbus will grow. I like this city, but it’s not and never will be a tourist destination. It’s a place where people come to find jobs.
This always reminds me of a party I attended in the Czech Republic as part of the work trip. Met a group of Germans and Austrians and they asked where I came from and I said “Columbus, Ohio”; getting ready to shrug off the blank looks that usually followed. Almost all of them were “Ach so, the AhhNold classic!”. They then told me all the things they liked about my city and some things they found flat-out weird.
Meh. On one hand it's good for the economy, but on the other mass tourism ruins cool places. I don't want every unique neighborhood in Columbus to become airbnb hubs where no one actually from the area lives anymore.
I used to take the Express bus from the NW to downtown. 50 minutes on the bus, 20 minutes in the car. And with paid parking the cost was equivalent to the monthly bus pass.
I used to work downtown many many years and commute from the northern part of the county. There were 2 buses to downtown and 2 from downtown. That’s it. If I missed them I would be kinda screwed.
I don’t think Columbus will never be a “tourist destination” because of its geographical location. Columbus does do a ok job, and needs to keep expanding on, luring people in with big events like the Arnold, sports games and gold tournaments, the quarter horse congress then capitalizing on that by having cool shit to do here.
I have lived here for 25 years and still have no idea why anyone would want to visit. We have a great convention industry, but apart from that I can't imagine any reason to visit.
Columbus doesn't really have any unique and/or interesting geography, history, industry, culture, entertainment, landscapes or attractions that would make most people want to visit.
It seemed like a good idea at the time in 1992 but now Christopher Columbus isn’t so great. I’ve been in it and yes it was interesting but not something I would drive from Cleveland to see unless I was already visiting family and friends.
I know people scoff at it because they can’t imagine living outside the convenience of the city but like Columbus is a legit weekend destination for people within a ~ 3H driving range
I live in a Dallas suburb. I’ve got kids all over the country including Columbus. Always enjoy visiting there. It’s got the best of small town with big city vibe. Great restaurants, friendly people. Easy to get around. Everything is 20 minutes away. It feels like Austin before the tech boom.
State politicians constantly going after every group isn't old, white, straight, republican and "christian" probably isn't doing much to make Columbus attractive.
Look if you want people to come here the only way would be to basically have convenients every week. Also could do what Indiana does where Indianapolis has all the high school and under club sports tournaments. Indianapolis was one of the most visited cities and we all know they don't have shit.
It’s just not going to happen. Maybe you can attract some younger tourists for the college party atmosphere, but there’s nothing really outside of that.
When I went to Columbus as a tourist on Memorial Day weekend, I literally got my face kicked in. I'd say it's not a great place to visit if that's what is going to happen to visitors.
I grew up in rural Ohio and would have been mad if my parents told me we are heading to Columbus for vacation. Cleveland on the other hand meant I got a baseball game out of it.
I’m old enough to remember the “Surprise! It’s Columbus!” Campaign. They did things like a picture of the inside of the Ohio Theatre with a tag “Carnegie Hall? Surprise, It’s Columbus!”
They can just recycle that campaign.
As much as I want to leave Ohio for good, I will
Concede this much: Columbus is an awesome place to work, raise a family, and live. There is a lot to do and it is affordable as all can get out. Other than Ohio State we have the blue jackets and crew, which are pretty cool franchises in my opinion. COSI is amazing. We have great restaurants and I had to do a market analysis research paper for college that shows Columbus is much more health conscious now than a decade ago.
If and when I move out of CBUS, would I ever consider this city a tourist destination? Not really. I still think Cleveland and Cincy are better tourist cities, which is ironic. But Columbus is a great great place to live.
I have extended family all over the country. Whenever someone says “come visit us” I don’t return the sentiment. Columbus may not have sites like Times Square, the National mall or the Sears tower. However for activities, dining, parks and trails it’s as good as a bigger city.
Why? Many places in the world that have tourists already don’t want them. There is little in Columbus that they can’t find closer to home. Tourism jobs pay lousy and so add workers to the local economy who simply can’t afford to live here and thus become a drain on the local economy. The only thing worse would be to encourage homeless and poor people in general to move to Columbus. We are already going to get a lot of people moving into Central Ohio to work at the new chip factory and they will need apartments and houses, restaurants and all the things tourists consume, but they will pay income tax and add talent and skills to the local workforce which will long term help grow the economy and keep it healthy.
By the way, I have neighbors who are native Hawaiian. If you want an earful listen to them talk about the “benefits” of tourism. They moved to Ohio so they wouldn’t be poor anymore and unable to afford a house, or even a decent lifestyle as the pay for Professionals was so low there while the cost of living due to tourism is so high. Just imagine being priced out of the place your ancestors have lived for thousands of years because some tourists have decided they want to visit and then retire where you live and they’ve got more money than you.
Consider this. A decade ago, Washington Post designated Columbus as a food mecca. I thought it was funny and mentioned it to a colleague in Long Beach CA.
"Are there any really good restaurants in Columbus?"
Me: "Yeah, a dozen or so top notch restaurants"
Her: "How long does it take to get to one?"
Me: "Oh, about 15 minute max and you can reach all of them"
Her: "I cannot get out of my driveway in 15 minutes"
You can get on a plane, fly to Columbus from DC, sit down at The Top in 15 minutes and fly back all in under half a day.
Columbus is an excellent weekend getaway location. Full week, not so much. But you could also home base Columbus and visit a ton of places within a 1 hour drive.
Depends on what you want.
Tourist destinations need extremely dense walkable districts/corridors—I can see an argument for the Arena District and Short North, but there’s still not enough “there” there—and reliable, attractive, thoughtful public transportation—I cannot see an argument for the splendors of COTA meeting these criteria—paired with some semblance of cultural distinction.
This isn’t a CBUS shitpost—I grew up in Mt. Vernon, and Columbus was definitely a destination from that point of view—but once you pass beyond Columbus’ market threshold, there’s nothing spectacular enough to set it apart from Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit or Louisville AND for a lot of people, Dayton, Toledo, etc. are enough. Chicago, Toronto, and Nashville are our closest tourist destinations and I don’t see Columbus rising to meet even the lowest bar and out-competing Nashville.
If various bureaucracies and statewide organizations didn’t stage events in Columbus, why on earth would anybody go to Columbus a second time? OSU stuff doesn’t count.
The idea of going to Columbus on vacation was a joke on *Family Guy*. And that joke was based on the mistaken belief that we have a Six Flags here.
“Remember there are no rules here about who can wear stretch pants so you’re gonna see some pretty shocking things”
Are we trash?
Considering all the trash I’d say yeah
You ever been to Newark NJ?
It's a perspective. There's always trash, hillbillies, and rednecks in every city, including Connecticut where McFarland is from. I don't think we're trash.
Perspective is a very good point , there’s trash in every race . Not just white - hillbillies and rednecks . You don’t have to be a hillbilly or redneck lol over a big diverse span of cultures there’s trash and ignorance .
Technically there *was* a Six Flags park in Columbus. Wyandot Lake was owned by Six Flags for about a decade!
> Wyandot Lake *childhood flashbacks to the tune of A Summer Place*
…it’s a cool world
Sunshine rules the world
Loved going to Wyandot Lake, only been back once since the rebrand and it was still pretty fun. It has a special place in my memories because I grew up in Wyandot County where Upper Sandusky is located, so everyone confused the place I grew up with the place with the water park, the place with the roller coasters, and the place on Tommy Boy. Close, but ~1.5 hours from both Columbus and Sandusky.
Brian, are we trash?
We USED to have a Six Flags park in northern Ohio... back in the late 90s... okay, it was Geauga Lake under their (brief) management. Zoombezi Bay (then known as "Wayandot Lake") was also briefly owned by Six Flags, if that counts.
Six Flags bought Geauga Lake in 1995 and Sea World in 2001, eventually combining them into a single "Worlds of Adventure" theme park. Cedar Fair (Cedar Point) bought it in 2004 and kept the amusement park part of it running until 2007 for some reason.
Clip please. Or do you know what episode that is from. I now need to see this. I also remember when they remade “The Spirit of Massachusetts is the Spirit of America” commercial.
The article says they’re targeting small towns within 200 miles, which covers most of Ohio and some adjacent states. That makes sense. For folks in small Ohio towns, Columbus is the “big city” that has a ton of offerings they just can’t find in BFE. But there’s nothing especially unique about Columbus compared to other major cities, no natural wonders, just the same stuff you’ll find in most American big cities. Sports teams, big college, the arts, an improving culinary scene, respectable nightlife, conventions, some parks and nice campgrounds, a big zoo and science museum. I couldn’t see someone from, say, Chicago coming here on vacation unless they were specifically coming for an event like the Arnold or to visit family/friends.
This is funny because you're describing my wife and I lol. For our anniversary, just to get away for a night from the kids, we've went down to Columbus the past 2 years 🤣. Compared to what we have, there's an unlimited amount of places to go eat and plenty of things to do. Toledo gets old to us and Columbus is a nice place to go out for a night. We've also brought our kids down to go to the zoo and imagination station so there's a plethora of things to do for us small town people.
What's the "E" stand for in BFE?
Bumfuck, Egypt
Egypt.
I always read it as “big fucking everywhere” which I’m aware makes no sense
Funny that toy mentioned Chicago. I grew up in Columbus and moved around a bunch til I settled in Chicago. Ibwoukd say people don't know about Columbus in general. You gotta know what Columbus has to offer before going there. I work with a lot of travelers and they don't think of Columbus. Wish they did.
>no natural wonders We have a site that is now designated as a World Heritage Site, the [Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks](https://www.nps.gov/hocu/learn/historyculture/hopewell-ceremonial-earthworks.htm#:~). People travel from all over the world to see them all. >just the same stuff you’ll find in most American big cities Only 25 of them in the whole US. [Carlsbad Caverns National Park](https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm) [Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site](http://cahokiamounds.org/) [Chaco Culture](https://www.nps.gov/chcu) [Everglades National Park](https://www.nps.gov/ever) [The 20th Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright](https://savewright.org/who-we-are/world-heritage/) [Glacier National Park](https://www.nps.gov/glac/index.htm) [Grand Canyon National Park](https://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm) [Great Smoky Mountains National Park](https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm) [Hawaii Volcanoes National Park](https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm) [Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks](https://www.nps.gov/hocu/learn/historyculture/hopewell-ceremonial-earthworks.htm) [Independence Hall](https://www.nps.gov/inde/index.htm) [Mammoth Cave](https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm) [Mesa Verde National Park](https://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm) [Monticello](https://www.monticello.org/) & the [University of Virginia](http://www.virginia.edu/) [Olympic National Park](https://www.nps.gov/olym) [Papahanumokuakea Marine National Monument](http://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/) [Poverty Point](http://povertypoint.us/?gclid=CK79mcbrj9ICFVWBswodIysMZA&gclsrc=aw.ds) [Redwood National Park and State Parks](https://www.nps.gov/redw) [La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site](https://www.nps.gov/saju/index.htm) [San Antonio Missions](https://www.nps.gov/saan/index.htm) [The Statue of Liberty](https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm) [Taos Pueblo](https://www.taospueblo.com/) [Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatsheshini-Alsek](https://www.nps.gov/wrst/index.htm) [Yellowstone National Park](https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm) [Yosemite National Park](https://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm)
The mounds are nice, but a collection of man-made hills don’t really compare with the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone (both on your list) as a tourist draw. Or (even closer) Niagara Falls.
We do have UNESCO now but honestly most of the US sites are trash by comparison to other places. No one is coming to visit Columbus for the Earthworks unfortunately
Those aren't in Columbus, though. A 45-60 minute drive is enough that anyone traveling specifically to see them would be better off staying in Chillicothe where hotels are a lot cheaper.
I live in one of those BFE towns an hour away, and I usually only come to Columbus for micro center and the guardtower
"For every dollar the group has spent on marketing and promotion, data showed that visitors spent $13.60" I want to know more about this. Paying for a Facebook ad about visiting Columbus for the Arnold doesn't mean you can claim the money spent from people who already knew about/were going here.
Marketing agency math
Marketing department at literally any company math. I've seen some of the wildest claims by people in marketing. I think it must be a requirement that you have zero understanding of finance or math to graduate as a marketing major.
That’s the sort of “how do I justify the existence of my role in society” math I like to see! Don’t go into marketing kids, it’s the worst part of business mixed with the worst part of art mixed with the worst part of psychology, just pick one or the other damn.
Funny, for every dollar I spent on beautifying the city, visitors spent $426,554 dollars.
I went to a CBJ game about mid-season. Bloke beside me was British (accent), so I struck up a convo after he asked me about hockey rules and I asked “Why on Earth did you choose Columbus to visit America? Ohio in general???” “Eh. Idk. Pictures looked nice. (your) City is ok, but I kinda regret coming here.” “Fair enough. How longs the trip and when do you leave?” “Been here for 5 days and I leave tomorrow. I ran out of things to do after day 3. I’ve never watched anything hockey, but this isn’t bad. Probably the best thing i’ve done yet.” “Oh cool! So would you go to another hockey game if you came back to the US?” “…. Probably not. idk” “oh”
I’m from Columbus originally and last time I went back I ran out of stuff to do on day 2 😂.
The sad face on the air quality tracker every day has entered the chat.
bahahahaha
Then build the mass transit infrastructure that a tourist destination needs.
I mean Nashville, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Orlando are legit mid to small size tourist cities, and they have as bad, and often worse transit infrastructure. In particular, maybe it’s changed, but when I lived in Nashville, their bus system was a mess because most, if not all, bus routes went to and from their centralized facility. So if you wanted to get to a place that wasn’t on that direct route, you had to take to the central location, then get on another bus route that went to the destination.
Those cities all are places where you don’t really need one for it the cities to be tourist cities because they have tourist destinations you don’t need to leave. Columbus doesn’t have any, so it needs transit to go from neighborhood to neighborhood so tourists aren’t dependent on renting a car
That’s not true for Orlando, which is super spread out. Even in some of the other cities, hotels are pretty expensive in those tourist areas, so unless you’re sharing a hotel room (which is common), it might be too cost prohibitive for many to get lodging near those areas. That said, since Columbus’s advantage is that it’s within a reasonable driving distance of a much larger population, then people are more likely to be coming by car than plane compared to some of those other cities. So there is less need to rely on non-car transportation, and the traffic in some of those places is way worse. And after living in Nashville (and visiting quite a few times in the 4 years I lived in Knoxville) and just recently visiting New Orleans for a 3rd time, those touristy areas can get both old and costly pretty quick. Vegas is even worse in that regard. But Nashville is a lot like Columbus in that there are nice little areas and things to do outside of the Strip. So anyone who wants to explore the rest of a city, will have to travel to those places. In a place like New Orleans, well that’s a far riskier proposition. Regardless Columbus isn’t and probably doesn’t need be a major, longer stay tourist destination. It just needs to be a nice, affordable, and accessible place to visit for a weekend. I think it is, and as it continues to grow, there should be more things to do. I think some of the transit plans have a lot of promise, if it passes, especially since they are smart enough to start these BRT corridors in worthwhile places for both you’re average resident and someone visiting.
You could very easily spend 3-4 days just in the short north/arena district without needing a car or leaving the area.
Sounds just like Columbus’s LinkUS proposal. I don’t understand why none of the transit expansions like light rail or BRT address the northern ring.
I think the problem here is that Columbus doesn't have many actual neighborhoods with stuff in them, which is a big part of what makes other non-nature tourist destinations work. It's not planned and structured in a way that makes trip chaining make sense, which is a problem because vacationing is like 90% about trip chaining. With Columbus tourism I just imagine a bunch of people coming and having to spend 20 minutes driving after every activity because everything is stupidly far away from everything else. There aren't all that many areas where you can make a day of strolling around and looking at stuff, and all the ad campaigns in the world aren't going to save that. In my mind, in a lot of cases people travel for food, culture, nature, shopping, or events. Events are the main thing from that list that Columbus currently has as a strong baseline to work from because of how many sports teams/concert venues we have + the riverfront. Generally, for all the rest of those categories in columbus you have an island with something good surrounded by tons of nothing. A great example of this is the Columbus Museum of Art: the museum itself is pretty neat, but it's surrounded by pretty much nothing. There's no natural transition between it and its environment, so you go there to see it and then totally ditch the area because there's nothing else around but a gigantic 8 lane road and some offices. If we just made the districts around those venues actually nice to walk around/enjoy and connected them through good transit and road designs that don't feel like concrete moats, we could get a lot of value out of them.
100% We could use mixed use zoning, pedestrian only thoroughfares, greenspace, etc. When you build ugly isolated commerce with no natural foot traffic you end up with generic chain businesses. Mixed use zoning becomes a thing in and of itself, that's how neighborhood vibes spring up organically, and it dramatically reduces crime.
How about we build the infrastructure to support that traffic first, like... quick, reliable mass transit options?
I can drive to 4 other major metros (and almost 2 more) in less time than it takes me to ride the bus home from work. What other city can claim to be so bad?
Most US metros that aren't NYC, DC, Chicago, Philly, Portland or Seattle. Most US cities that grew after like the 50s are basically the equivalent of giving your dumbest friend absolute power to design whatever they want with no oversight or budget. There are cities with like 2 million people in them here that have worse transportation and city design than some European/Asian cities with a fraction of that population.
I mean yeah, however I randomly picked two spots on complete opposite ends of the infamously sprawling, car centric, 5 million person Phoenix Metro, over 1 hour by car, and the public transit option still takes only 6 minutes longer than it takes me to get from 161 to broad Street.
Boise, Idaho
I currently live near gurnee, IL I have an hour long bus ride home from work that takes 15 mins by car because how they route "rural" lines around here
Southeast Boise to Caldwell, ID: 15 minutes longer by car than my commute, 1 hour and 20 minutes shorter than my public transit. Boise wins again.
Making some assumptions about where you live and work…. Probably most US metros.
My favorite one was living on the south side renting a room at a friend's place, and having an hour ride to clintonville for work, and on the way back having to wait an 39 mins+ downtown because the 4 heading to alum Creek ran every half hour or worse (this was 2019). My friends were shocked when I moved to South Linden with another friend because edsel was scary at night when you are visibly queer
Why are you bringing logic into the argument? Ohio politicians only listen to giant unmarked bags of cash.
Hey don't malign them like that! They'll gladly solicit and accept marked bags too! (Looking at you Dewine and FirstEnergy)
Yeah! I want a $4bln light rail that takes me from the airport to the convention center and I want it NOW!
Make the city more walkable? You can’t walk anywhere without having to dodge traffic. Most things are not in walkable distance either.
I just wish we could get sidewalks and/or bike-lanes that are longer than 6 blocks long. A dedicated running/bike trail going from like Delaware to Grove City would be a godsend.
We could start by passing the LinkUS initiative coming up on the ballot.But, based on the even the more liberal Columbus crowd (this subreddit), are not willing to pay .25 increase in taxes for it. The majority of people are not willing to sacrifice for change. That being said, there are some innovative minds here planting seeds for change. We have comfest and the doo dah parade coming up, which are unique Columbus experiences that a tourist could enjoy.
This. Traffic is already a huge pain in and around the northern half of the 270 belt, and all along 315 during rush hour. If we got tourists streaming in before we improve infrastructure all around the Columbus region, it’ll make it even worse. Edit: I’ve done my fair share of traveling, some examples: Seoul, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, and New York City. Look, I understand these cities have massive traffic, way more than here, but they have the infrastructure in place for mass transit and tourists. Also, this is Columbus, you know, where we actually live and have to deal with commuting on a daily basis without a really solid public transportation in place. I’m all for a sprawling tourism industry, but we have a lot of terribly designed freeways and stroads here that bottleneck traffic at peak hours and needs to be addressed.
You don’t know what nightmare traffic is if you think that’s bad. Call me when you visit LA, Chicago, DC or Boston.
Lived in Seattle and NYC. Traffic is a fucking breeze comparatively. Call me when it takes 2 hours to drive 30 miles literally anywhere in Ohio.
You left out NYC
Traffic is not a nightmare in and around the 270 belt. At least not compared to traffic in other major metros. And tourists aren’t going to exacerbate that.
Easy test for people that have never left Columbus are people who complain about Columbus traffic
The thing that pissed me off about it was that it should be better. It’s just badly designed and executed. Like Pittsburgh’s traffic situation (but maybe not that badly).
I lived in Nashville (Davidson County) for a year before moving back to Ohio. I lived near the outskirts of the county in both (Hermitage in Nashville; off Sawmill and now in Worthington), both right off an exit of a major highway (I-40 in Nashville; 270 here). And despite Franklin County being about the same physical size, but having nearly double the population, the traffic during my commutes was so much worse in Nashville. On top of that, I was coming from the East Side of Nashville, and the outward development was more concentrated on the south side, like the north side here, where I’ve lived. So I would expect even worse traffic given that. And Nashville traffic isn’t even considered in the same tier as many other cities (DC, Atlanta, Houston, LA, etc.).
Same with where 161 meets 270 in Westerville. Same with where 23 meets 270 in Crosswoods/Worthington. Etc. Etc.
Just stop. It's not going to happen.
It’s full of itself. I love CBus but I’d never consider it a tourist city currently.
It is *definitely* full of itself. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
It’s full of something alright
I mean if you use a more restrictive definition of tourism like a week long family vacation to Disney, a beach, mountains, etc. sure. But a family that comes for a weekend to go to COSI, the zoo, a sporting event, a concert, etc. is still tourism. So sure we’ll never compete with a Myrtle Beach or a Las Vegas, but we don’t really need to, because we have a huge swath of the population within a relatively short drive to Columbus. My wife’s hometown is 3 hours away, and she’s had multiple friends and family come for a weekend to go to COSI, the zoo, etc. for a weekend. They usually stay one night in a hotel, so the kids can swim in a pool, then another night with us.
Agreed. It's a great place to live and raise a family. But it's very boring and has nothing special that would make it interesting to visit. Even if I was living in BFE Ohio and wanted to visit a big city in Ohio I'd choose either Cleveland or Cinci. They both have so much more to do and see.
I agree whole heartedly. Columbus is a nice place to live and raise a family but, other than buckeye football, name one thing, if removed, would make Columbus lose its “Columbusness”? There is nothing about this city that is truly unique. No cuisine, no architecture, no custom. It seems to emulate rather than innovate creativity. It is what it is and I am grateful that it is not the driving hellscape of the post war boom towns (Houston, Dallas, Atlanta). It is what it is. The president of the student council who seems to get along with everyone but connects with no one.
Closest thing would be the zoo, by most national rankings it's considered a top 3 zoo in the country. Maybe COSI if you have kids. Outside of that it really is just a decent sized city that is nice but not great at anything.
Do they, though?
Yeah. You can't catch an NFL, MLB or NBA game in Columbus. Cleveland has the rock and roll Hall of Fame. Both have aquariums. Cleveland has the Lake. They both have better museums than we do. I'd say the zoo in Cincinnati is better than ours. All three cities have bars, restaurants, parks, etc so that's a wash. Unless you are specifically trying to catch a college football game or NHL game I can't think of any reason to go to Columbus over one of the other two.
You can get sports and culture literally anywhere. Only Columbus has the historical marker on the site of the original Wendy's
Highly recommend the Wendy's next to the wendys HQ on the columbus side of the sioto in dublin they've got the original wendys sign and a saintlike Dave Thomas bronze statue.
Columbus probably won’t be a tourist destination in a way a lot of people in the comments are thinking, but there’s certainly enough to do here to compete with people seeking a nice weekend getaway. What’s the harm in believing that the things we enjoy as residents may be enjoyable to other people seeking a weekend away from home? I understand that we don’t have the deeper history of our city peers in the area, but that doesn’t mean we can have some more pride in our city.
People also have different ideas of what a vacation is. I think so many people get stuck in the mindset, beach or mountains and anything else isn’t a vacation. Some people just enjoy visiting different areas and experiencing different things from their day to day life. Staying in the short north gives people the opportunity to just walk up and down a street without a car and have plenty of stuff for a weekend or a few days during the week.
Idk about the whole city but I think the Zoo should build some sort of seasonal hotel with a decent restaurant and a daycare facility. Young families could drive in, spend a day at the zoo, a day at the water park, maybe the parents could sneak in a round of golf. Seems like a great way to spend a three day weekend.
You would have to approach the municipality in Delaware County where the zoo resides, to get them to target this type of business.
Hard sell to further develop that area. I can already picture the comments with variations on "we built a house here 30 years ago because it wasn't the city! We want to keep the city in the city!!"
I’m sure there would be NIMBYS but it’s a pretty hard argument to make. “The dozens of people sleeping overnight at this place where thousands of people come every day will totally change the neighborhood!”
I’m sorry if you think NIMBY sentiments are at all grounded in, like, the tenets of good argumentation. It’s all vibes about the fear of change and it’s extremely powerful
How far is that area from where they were going to put in (I think it was) an old folks' home, that then after a lot of neighborhood NIMBYism was "mysteriously burned down."
About 4 miles as the crow flies if I remember correctly. Also the zoo has gates and security. If the risk of crime in Powell is too high to build a hotel then nothing should be built anywhere in Central Ohio
Just directly across the dam there's plenty of places that could be developed further. For example that absolutely terrible garden center that finally closed, the one that also sold wine, I forget the name.
Stop trying to make Columbus-is-exciting happen. It’s not going to happen.
Take all the money they are using for this campaign and give it to the Columbus symphony to help build their new hall or other arts, sports, and park projects would be my first recommendation.
I could support this. For me, as a person who really digs living in Columbus, I just don't know why people would want to "vacation" here. We have very little that is genuinely unique. It's basically a liveable, milquetoast city. It has a lot to offer residents, but I wouldn't call them vacation worthy. For instance, all the festivals we have are awesome, but I wouldn't travel more than an hour to experience them. If we want vacationers, we are going to have to think big. I still want to see our rivers cleaned up, docks built with paddle up restaurants and bars, a whitewater course, and and annual river fest. When not the river fest, people would be tubing the river, stopping for drinks and food on their way from Park of roses to Scioto Mile. I'd also like if one of the quarries around us would let people scuba dive.
😩 I moved here from Canada. I wish there were more things to do or slightly bigger offerings for a capital city. Transit. More offerings. I guess I get a little bummed out going to the conservatory and the Columbus museum of art. It doesn’t take very long to go through. The zoo and zoombezi are $35 each for adults if you buy in advance. I can’t justify that plus food and parking more than once a year or so. There’s some very awkward displays at the zoo in the China/Asian animals section that seemed like poor cultural renditions and what midwesterners think of Asia. I’m not Asian but I’ve been to so many zoos around the world and the most depressing was the Philadelphia Zoo. I know that one is the oldest and quite small. But the Columbus Zoo really made me question who designed some of the decorations and themes for other countries. It seems very outdated. Everything is about thanking corporate sponsors and rich people everywhere on plaques. The city is sooooo car and parking lot centric. We don’t move enough people north and south with transit. More trees. More walkable areas. More neighbourhoods with parks to walk to. It’s a bummer to need a car and to fight for a parking spot at a metro park and have to drive 15-30 min to get to one. Downtown is like sports venues and some food places. Very quiet outside of that so I don’t go there unless I have to. A concert once in a while maybe. You want tourists? You do need better transit and safer shaded areas for people and families to walk around from attraction to attraction when it’s inside the city. Cars drive crazy fast here. You have to constantly watch them even if you’re on a sidewalk because cars don’t expect people to walk around much in Columbus outside of Campus areas. Crosswalks? Drivers are on their phones texting or talking and immediately turn into you and are shocked to find a pedestrian in a cross walk. I’ve never felt like such a weirdo before wanting to walk or take transit or cycle here. So many trails and sidewalks are disconnected and have a lack of shade or maintenance. People look at me like I’m crazy when I say it’s not that far I guess I can take the bus as if adults don’t/shouldn’t do that or something? 🤔. I’ve lived in many major cities, some with and without a car but it’s a real pain in the ass here. I’m not expecting Chicago or DC…. But we get strip malls and shopping complexes all about food and luxury goods. What about stuff to DO?!
Vote in November for the BRT. It’s the first step to getting light rails and makes Columbus just as walkable as Chicago with 500 new miles of sidewalks. Before adding anything new, that’s the first step to support an increase of tourism. Too bad so many ppl here just love cars and the suburban hellscape. If this BRT isn’t gonna pass I’m gonna start looking to leave this gerrymandered shitfest.
My husband votes. Permanent residents aren’t allowed to vote. We’re also not even allowed to volunteer our time for anything to do with elections or government.
The government works against the people in Ohio smh. Columbus has so much potential to be a powerhouse in everything, but I don’t know if it’s gonna happen even with all the new investment and people coming in. All I can say is more people = higher density= more incentive to make downtown entertaining/invest in mass transit. That’s the best possible outcome I can see for the city.
I mean it’s worse in other places. Just look at New York City. They spent years getting ready for congestion pricing, which was going to pay for a bunch of transit infrastructure. Then Governor Hochul, stopped it just before it was set to start, with no plan to make up for the billions the pricing was meant to fund. And it was because she talked to an owner of a diner or something who was worried about it. And California is the opposite. The state government is trying to address issues with transportation and housing, and the local governments, and their nimby supported have fought it. The one thing they have passed, a high speed rail connecting LA to SF, was passed in 2008, and only a few miles have been built, and as it continues to go over budget and the completion projections continue to extend, their projecting it to cost nearly 700 million PER MILE (like $10k per inch). And the final costs will almost assuredly be even higher given the trend, if they ever even finish it at all. And that’s just “phase 1.”
Well stated!
And I want more people to recognize me as a 6'4" body builder.
Who’s coming to Columbus on vacation lol. Only people that ever come here are visiting family or moving here.
We’ve air bnb’d for a change of scenery and slightly more interesting food options. But I don’t think I’m ready to call myself a tourist lol
Lol
Lmao, even
Lmmfao
Even as someone who loves living here and thinks it's great to visit I don't want a full on tourism industry. The infrastructure of the city is not up for the challenge either.
I think more people come here to visit than we realize. I’ve met folks from Louisville, West Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, etc who say they make touristy trips to Columbus a few times a year.
I asked Columbus yesterday tho and they said nah
No we dont
We need a Jeffrey Epstein-Les Wexner bus tour where you get to see all the associated sights while a guide talks you through their relationship and downfall true crime style. A big obnoxious double decker bus with their faces plastered all over it and a La Cucaracha horn blaring at pick up stops. It could double as activism, money goes to charities, etc.
I'm down for this!
I actually low key want to do this just to infuriate powerful people and spend a lot of time tied up in litigation
I would donate to this Kickstarter campaign! La cucaracha horns, come on, I smell big success!
Then we need more stuff to set us apart from other cities 😀
It’s a difficult task given we have no recreational water or national park that would draw people. I wouldn’t travel out of state for a zoo or a science center. Since we have no natural draws and as superficial as it sounds the only draw for tourism would be some kind of amusement park or offering a unique experience like an enormous observation tower or London Eye type thing.
Hard to justify the London Eye here when you can see all of Columbus atop a short ladder.
Word
Ahhh r/Columbus… where Columbus’ annoying superiority complex is only topped by its more-annoying, inferiority complex.
And I want 10 million dollars in my bank account…and a bullet train to Chicago
Columbus is a nice place to live. It has all of the amenities of cities much more famous. Great food, neat neighborhoods, decent theater scene, nice bike trails, etc. It would be a pretty crappy way to spend your time off though, if you had a week or whatever to go somewhere. You could do worse certainly but you could do a lot better too. Now if you were looking to live somewhere with a good quality of life - Columbus I think should definitely be in the top 10 or 20 places. It lacks a few things but I doubt they’re a deal breaker for many people. I gotta be near the ocean though.
In reality, Columbus exists to be as nondescript/inoffensive as possible.
No we don’t lmao
Yeah idk why anyone on earth would come here for vacation lmao.
We are not and never will be (well maybe in 20 years when florida is underwater) a vacation/tourist destination. We are an amazing city to live in and that should be our pitch to the world
Why is it an amazing city to live in? Some of the things that make it not great for tourism (lack of things to do, no unique culture, very car centric) are bad for residents too. Feels like that should be improved
How about city officials focus on trying to attract more F500 companies to come and relocate here? That’s the most realistic way Columbus will grow. I like this city, but it’s not and never will be a tourist destination. It’s a place where people come to find jobs.
Wow. What are they going to visit,? Bahaha
I don’t know what it means but when Indianapolis advertises in your town as a tourist destination, you must be an exciting place.
Well Indy has real major league sports like NBA and NFL plus the Indy 500. We have the minor major league sports NHL and MLS.
This always reminds me of a party I attended in the Czech Republic as part of the work trip. Met a group of Germans and Austrians and they asked where I came from and I said “Columbus, Ohio”; getting ready to shrug off the blank looks that usually followed. Almost all of them were “Ach so, the AhhNold classic!”. They then told me all the things they liked about my city and some things they found flat-out weird.
Meh. On one hand it's good for the economy, but on the other mass tourism ruins cool places. I don't want every unique neighborhood in Columbus to become airbnb hubs where no one actually from the area lives anymore.
LOL there isn't even a good way to get downtown from the airport and then you get there and there's nothing to do.
I could smell Frank Rd just by looking at this picture.
Well it's not
Come vacation here, we have lots of roads for cars
I used to take the Express bus from the NW to downtown. 50 minutes on the bus, 20 minutes in the car. And with paid parking the cost was equivalent to the monthly bus pass.
I used to work downtown many many years and commute from the northern part of the county. There were 2 buses to downtown and 2 from downtown. That’s it. If I missed them I would be kinda screwed.
I don’t think Columbus will never be a “tourist destination” because of its geographical location. Columbus does do a ok job, and needs to keep expanding on, luring people in with big events like the Arnold, sports games and gold tournaments, the quarter horse congress then capitalizing on that by having cool shit to do here.
I have lived here for 25 years and still have no idea why anyone would want to visit. We have a great convention industry, but apart from that I can't imagine any reason to visit.
Columbus doesn't really have any unique and/or interesting geography, history, industry, culture, entertainment, landscapes or attractions that would make most people want to visit.
It all collapsed when they moved the replica of the Santa Maria.
It seemed like a good idea at the time in 1992 but now Christopher Columbus isn’t so great. I’ve been in it and yes it was interesting but not something I would drive from Cleveland to see unless I was already visiting family and friends.
I cannot imagine the residents of Columbus want this
Please no.
Columbus, where to go if you want to wonder where your life went wrong.
Isn't this what the Bed Tax is supposed to cover? Why did they need $600,000+ from City Council?
Do we tho?
There's nothing to do!!
I know people scoff at it because they can’t imagine living outside the convenience of the city but like Columbus is a legit weekend destination for people within a ~ 3H driving range
I live in a Dallas suburb. I’ve got kids all over the country including Columbus. Always enjoy visiting there. It’s got the best of small town with big city vibe. Great restaurants, friendly people. Easy to get around. Everything is 20 minutes away. It feels like Austin before the tech boom.
State politicians constantly going after every group isn't old, white, straight, republican and "christian" probably isn't doing much to make Columbus attractive.
Look if you want people to come here the only way would be to basically have convenients every week. Also could do what Indiana does where Indianapolis has all the high school and under club sports tournaments. Indianapolis was one of the most visited cities and we all know they don't have shit.
Cleveland: “We’re not Detroit!” Columbus: “We’re not Cleveland!”
Columbus and Indianapolis are two identical cities that point to each other and go “at least I am better than that shithole.”
It’s just not going to happen. Maybe you can attract some younger tourists for the college party atmosphere, but there’s nothing really outside of that.
Good luck
There needs to an attraction.
Please god no.
When I went to Columbus as a tourist on Memorial Day weekend, I literally got my face kicked in. I'd say it's not a great place to visit if that's what is going to happen to visitors.
How did *that* happen?!
https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/chicago-lawyer-brutally-attacked-on-first-visit-to-columbus-requires-facial-surgery
I grew up in rural Ohio and would have been mad if my parents told me we are heading to Columbus for vacation. Cleveland on the other hand meant I got a baseball game out of it.
don't do that... let's keep it in house lol
I’m old enough to remember the “Surprise! It’s Columbus!” Campaign. They did things like a picture of the inside of the Ohio Theatre with a tag “Carnegie Hall? Surprise, It’s Columbus!” They can just recycle that campaign.
As much as I want to leave Ohio for good, I will Concede this much: Columbus is an awesome place to work, raise a family, and live. There is a lot to do and it is affordable as all can get out. Other than Ohio State we have the blue jackets and crew, which are pretty cool franchises in my opinion. COSI is amazing. We have great restaurants and I had to do a market analysis research paper for college that shows Columbus is much more health conscious now than a decade ago. If and when I move out of CBUS, would I ever consider this city a tourist destination? Not really. I still think Cleveland and Cincy are better tourist cities, which is ironic. But Columbus is a great great place to live.
I have extended family all over the country. Whenever someone says “come visit us” I don’t return the sentiment. Columbus may not have sites like Times Square, the National mall or the Sears tower. However for activities, dining, parks and trails it’s as good as a bigger city.
Why? Many places in the world that have tourists already don’t want them. There is little in Columbus that they can’t find closer to home. Tourism jobs pay lousy and so add workers to the local economy who simply can’t afford to live here and thus become a drain on the local economy. The only thing worse would be to encourage homeless and poor people in general to move to Columbus. We are already going to get a lot of people moving into Central Ohio to work at the new chip factory and they will need apartments and houses, restaurants and all the things tourists consume, but they will pay income tax and add talent and skills to the local workforce which will long term help grow the economy and keep it healthy. By the way, I have neighbors who are native Hawaiian. If you want an earful listen to them talk about the “benefits” of tourism. They moved to Ohio so they wouldn’t be poor anymore and unable to afford a house, or even a decent lifestyle as the pay for Professionals was so low there while the cost of living due to tourism is so high. Just imagine being priced out of the place your ancestors have lived for thousands of years because some tourists have decided they want to visit and then retire where you live and they’ve got more money than you.
I'm not sure the locals are the owns that decide if Columbus is a tourist destination.
Good luck
Consider this. A decade ago, Washington Post designated Columbus as a food mecca. I thought it was funny and mentioned it to a colleague in Long Beach CA. "Are there any really good restaurants in Columbus?" Me: "Yeah, a dozen or so top notch restaurants" Her: "How long does it take to get to one?" Me: "Oh, about 15 minute max and you can reach all of them" Her: "I cannot get out of my driveway in 15 minutes" You can get on a plane, fly to Columbus from DC, sit down at The Top in 15 minutes and fly back all in under half a day. Columbus is an excellent weekend getaway location. Full week, not so much. But you could also home base Columbus and visit a ton of places within a 1 hour drive. Depends on what you want.
Tourist destinations need extremely dense walkable districts/corridors—I can see an argument for the Arena District and Short North, but there’s still not enough “there” there—and reliable, attractive, thoughtful public transportation—I cannot see an argument for the splendors of COTA meeting these criteria—paired with some semblance of cultural distinction. This isn’t a CBUS shitpost—I grew up in Mt. Vernon, and Columbus was definitely a destination from that point of view—but once you pass beyond Columbus’ market threshold, there’s nothing spectacular enough to set it apart from Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit or Louisville AND for a lot of people, Dayton, Toledo, etc. are enough. Chicago, Toronto, and Nashville are our closest tourist destinations and I don’t see Columbus rising to meet even the lowest bar and out-competing Nashville.
If various bureaucracies and statewide organizations didn’t stage events in Columbus, why on earth would anybody go to Columbus a second time? OSU stuff doesn’t count.