Quote:
Originally Posted by nik-
I think it's pretty safe to say the bridge doesn't bring tourists. I think it's also safe to say that it adds to the fabric of an already nice city to visit.
|
Let's be honest, very few people visit Calgary just to visit Calgary. They come here to go to the Rockies, visit family, come here on business etc.
But the city itself is not the destination.
The Peace Bridge isn't a magic bullet to change all that, however I do think that there is a tipping point where if you have enough of these types of attractions/interesting elements of a city, it does make a city the destination. I've gone out of my way to visit otherwise perfectly average cities (ie. Stuttgart, Modena) just because of a couple of key attractions (Porsche, Merc, Ferrari museums) that made it just interesting enough to go out of my way for.
And as Bunk touched on, I think it's also a positive for people who are considering moving to Calgary. Personally I don't think I would've been able to convince my wife (or myself!) to move here 10-15 years ago...it was just a little too conservative for us considering our fields of work. However to me, seeing things like the Peace Bridge (and the Bow, and all the other nice new projects/restaurants and things that make a city more interesting) being built signified a shift in mindset, and made me think of Calgary as more than what it was before. Enough so that we made the city our home.
It's funny to look back and wonder what the fuss was about for 20 million bucks (or whatever exact amount it was). I think in the big picture, it was an absolute no-brainer in terms of what it does for the city.