Charlotte better for tourists than Nashville?

Charlotte a better tourist destination than Nashville?

A recent national ranking that named Charlotte the 26th most-visited city in the nation, ahead of Nashville, was part of the buzz this afternoon at the general meeting of the Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Alliance.

That’s the folks who run local hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions, and those who do business with them.

Some are surprised to hear that news, given Nashville’s national draw as the home of country music.

The hospitality and tourism industry generated $3 billion in economic impact in Mecklenburg last year and aims to increase that total to $4 billion by 2010, said the group’s leader, Mohammad Jenatian.

Among the ways they’re aiming to do that:

--Bringing minor-league baseball to uptown Charlotte with a complicated land swap. The deal as planned should also result in the redevelopment of Second Ward, currently the government sector of uptown, and a new park in Third Ward near Bank of America Stadium. Charlotte Center City Partners honcho Michael Smith told the group land should start changing hands by Sept. 30, another swap is planned by Oct. 15 and the Mecklenburg County Commissioners should vote on the deal Oct. 16.

--Participating in the campaign opposing the repeal of the county’s 1/2-cent sales tax that goes toward mass transit. If the county’s bus and light rail system are cut back as a result of repealing the tax, many hospitality workers might have trouble getting to work in early mornings or late nights, Jenatian said. (An anti-tax petition got a measure to repeal the tax onto the Nov. 6 election ballot).

--Getting more people to go rafting at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. As recently reported in the Observer, visitor traffic is ahead of projections, but not enough of the visitors are actually going rafting, center director Jeff Wise said. "A lot of people are intimidated by the activities out there," he said. So the new focus is getting the message out that the whitewater isn’t just for Olympic-caliber athletes – it’s for beginners too. The center is also reaching out to meeting planners to hold corporate retreats there.

--And finally, the much-hyped NASCAR Hall of Fame, scheduled to open in uptown Charlotte by 2010. Tim Newman, who heads the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, told the crowd the hall’s design is done, schematics for the museum exhibits and public art on the outdoor plaza will take another six months or so, and it’s on schedule – so far. After discovering the ground it’s on at Stonewall and Brevard streets is less rocky and softer than anticipated, the city recently approved adding a basement to the building for storage and exibit space, bringing the price tag from $154.5 million to $157 million.

What else could we do to make Charlotte more appealing as a tourist destination?