Comments on: City Talk today: How many tourists does Savannah want? http://www.billdawers.com/2011/05/31/city-talk-today-how-many-tourists-does-savannah-want/ Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:28:56 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: matthew http://www.billdawers.com/2011/05/31/city-talk-today-how-many-tourists-does-savannah-want/#comment-613 Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:28:56 +0000 http://www.billdawers.com/?p=590#comment-613 As a former and soon to be again downtown resident, being a tourist area is a mixed bag. Not only do the throngs of extra people help prop up the economy and allow us a wider diversity of dining and retail oppurtunites than we would have otherwise, but all the extra eyes on the streets make everyone safer. I love walking through town at night with trolleys driving past and walking tours herding people through the squares, it is just that much safer.

However, when it takes twenty minutes to get to your post office box on Telfair square because you are stuck behind three trolleys and a horsedrawn carriage, you do begin to curse the whole enterprise. Or when we lived on Telfair square and you always heard the same part of the tour guides speal reverberating through your courtyard “This is the home of Mary Telfair…”

I think we all dream of having more cultural tourism, less drinking partiers, but how we accomplish that is the challenge. Obviously the rise of the Music Festival and the Film Festival are a great start.

]]> By: Sandy Traub http://www.billdawers.com/2011/05/31/city-talk-today-how-many-tourists-does-savannah-want/#comment-600 Tue, 31 May 2011 20:14:47 +0000 http://www.billdawers.com/?p=590#comment-600 I welcome the question about what type of tourist. How much of a beer drinking, go-cup city reputation do we want? How much of a socially cultured, historical, religious city does the city want? What about the arts and food? Why do Savannah’s museums get such a low percent of the tourist inside when tour busloads marvel from the architecture outside. I don’t support Jim Williams actions to hang the disgusting Nazi flag, but his point to reap rewards for what his share of presenting Savannah so well. Sadly, ultra low percentages of tourists actually go inside Savannah’s most beautiful places. Are they the carrot to bait and switch? It would be worth re-looking at the cultured travelers’ broad interests and bring more of what’s inside authentic to Savannah’s true self — the classic to the eclectic blend while there is a more active discussion about what is the desirable in the tourism / residential / business mix. I anticipate we’ll see that on the movie screen soon when “Savannah” is released. Look to the City of Savannah’s City Hall statues — arts and commerce. City fathers laid a solid vision, but it takes more than statues to commemorate their wisdom in the most beautiful city in North America. There should be a better social and tourist mix, in my opinion.

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