October 23, 2007
Conde Nast Traveller Says We SF Rules
Put on your party hats, folks. SF won yet another No. 1 spot to come-look-at-and-eat-interesting-stuff. This time the honor arrives care of Conde Nast Traveller magazine's annual Readers' Choice Awards.
Yay.
Sure, the only-in-SF tourism industry is an important part of our economy, or whatever. And not that we're complaining -- we have won the top spot for 17 of the past 18 years -- but these types of accolades make us feel that much closer to living in a sterile museum, not our home.
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I disagree. I think if tourists were only doing cable cars and Pier 39 stuff, then you'd be right. But I think they're also going to the Mission, Golden Gate Park, the Castro, riding Muni, and a zillion of the other things that people who live here actually do. Tourism is the top industry of about 90% of U.S. locations (OK, that's not a very scientific number), so the fact that people still want to come here despite the city's big and visible problems is good news indeed.
Not that we're complaining, except, we totally are!
You know, it's possible to be a tourist-friendly city with lots of big shiny hotels and restaurants, while at the same time having genuine neighborhoods and hip little bars and a more "real" vibe. It's not an either/or thing.
Just ask NYC. They pull it off (even after the "Disneyfication" of Times Square), and in my opinion, so does SF.
The Shitty always does well on these things, check out the:
http://www.travelandleisure.com/afc/2007/category/1/subcategory/59
Hope the link comes through, but you can see how well SF does in terms of :
Attractive
Friendly
Stylish
Intelligent
Worldly
Athletic/active
Fun
Diverse
People (Overall)
I lived in Santa Fe in 1992. I live in the Other SF now. Hmmmmm, I must be a lucky charm!
Thanks, periqueblend -- heh, yeah, we suck at barbecue, for sure!
With friends coming into town to visit I never really understood the appeal of visiting SF. I mean, it's a great place to live, but what's the fun in visiting? What is there that tourists think is worth doing here for the couple of days that they're in town?