I spotted some excellent hand wringing in Toronto about recent rankings released by Priceline.com's Top 50 Destinations: Toronto Drops On The Priceline Scale.
Of course, it's only provincial of us here in Vancouver to point to Toronto's despair. Hogtown is lovely at this time of year, the clear-grey skies above the new opera hall, the fine smell of the breeze off the lake. What direction is that lake again?
Paging Dr. Schadenfreude. It hurts because it's love.
Priceline.com's Top 50 Destinations - Summer 2006Posted by James Sherrett at June 28, 2006 09:19 PMRank 2006 Neighborhood Rank 2005 Yr/Yr Change
--------- ------------ --------- ------------
1 Chicago, Millennium Park 35 +34
2 Chicago, North Michigan Ave. 5 +3
3 New York City, Midtown West 2 -1
4 New York City, Upper Midtown 3 -1
5 Las Vegas, Strip Vicinity 1 -4
6 New York City, Midtown East 21 +15
7 Vancouver 13 +6
8 San Diego, Coastal 4 -4
9 New York City, Soho NI*** --
10 Oahu, Waikiki South 8 -2
11 San Francisco, Union Square West 12 +1
12 Washington, DC, White House/Downtown 7 -5
13 Boston, Copley 49 +36
14 Seattle, Downtown 17 +3
15 San Diego, Point Loma/Shelter Island 39 +24
16 Boston, Downtown/Charlestown 19 +3
17 San Francisco, Union Square East 11 -6
18 Orange County, Disneyland Area 18 0
19 San Diego, Downtown/Harbor Island 16 -3
20 San Antonio, Downtown/Riverwalk 32 +12
21 Montreal 26 +5
22 Atlanta, Downtown 24 +2
23 Orlando, Universal Studios/Sea World 15 -8
24 Seattle, Lake Union NI --
25 Orlando, Disney World Vicinity 20 -5
26 Baltimore, Inner Harbor 14 -12
27 Las Vegas, Convention Center/UNLV NI --
28 Boston, Brookline/Brighton NI --
29 Maui, Wailea/Makena 29 0
30 Philadelphia, Downtown 36 +6
31 San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf 42 +11
32 Anchorage 45 +13
33 Hilton Head 52 +19
34 San Diego, East County NI --
35 London, Bloomsbury/Marble Arch NI --
36 Washington, DC, Alexandria/Old Town NI --
37 San Diego, Del Mar NI --
38 St. Catharines, Niagara Falls 48 +10
39 St. Louis, Downtown 22 -17
40 Los Angeles, Beverly Hills/
W. Hollywood NI --
41 Orange County, Costa Mesa/Irvine NI --
42 Toronto, Downtown 30 -12
43 Vancouver, Langley NI --
44 San Diego, Mission Valley 40 -4
45 Los Angeles, Hollywood NI --
46 San Antonio, Medical Center Area NI --
47 Seattle, Airport Area NI --
48 Monterey, Monterey/Pacific Grove 23 -25
49 Oahu, Waikiki North 34 -15
50 Chicago, O'Hare Area 41 -9
Hi James, I'm glad you made note of my hand-wringing. I'm not concerned only with Toronto though. I think we are lucky to live in a great country. I'd wring my hands if Vancouver dropped in the priceline.com list too.
Posted by: Robert Ouellette at June 29, 2006 10:49 AMThanks, Robert. My post was pretty insular. Toronto seems to bounce up and down a lot in these rankings. I remember the SARS scare 2 years ago and the resulting panic. Then the bounce back last year and strong tourism numbers. Now a little drop. It seems like a destination people want to go to, want to love, if only they didn't have to think about it so much.
The other thing I love about Toronto is it's perspective. In Canada, it's the most outward looking city, listening carefully to New York. Here in Vancouver we're too self obsessed, preening in the shadow of our mountains and going to bed early, and we have a serious tall-poppy, little-brother view of the world.
Looking at the Canadian destinations in the top 50 above, all of them moved up except Toronto, so consider it a rising tide with one abberation. It all evens out in time.
Posted by: James at June 29, 2006 11:09 PM