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Victoria tourism issues and discussion


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#2881 aastra

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Posted 09 November 2018 - 06:58 PM

 

I'm not so sure you're sure your sure.

 

Sure, you'd say that. Always so sure of yourself.



#2882 aastra

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Posted 09 November 2018 - 07:01 PM

My shift is over now. Enjoy the weekend, everybody.



#2883 Rob Randall

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Posted 09 November 2018 - 07:01 PM

I'm starting to think magazine top destination lists are getting to be as common as oriental carpet close-out sales.



#2884 aastra

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Posted 10 November 2018 - 12:51 PM

Can I say it doesn't do the Hudson market any favours to be so near the "edge" of downtown, so to speak? Most tourists aren't inclined to stray very far, as we've established countless times. So when people sense that they're getting near that proverbial edge, methinks they'll turn back more often than not. People like to be in the thick of things. The remaining two Hudson towers will help some, but this is why I think it would be in downtown's collective best interest to develop those gateway properties around Douglas and Caledonia, Blanshard and Caledonia, etc.


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#2885 Nparker

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Posted 10 November 2018 - 05:15 PM

...I think it would be in downtown's collective best interest to develop those gateway properties around Douglas and Caledonia, Blanshard and Caledonia, etc.

Agreed, but not with low-budget 4-storey crap shacks. If this section of downtown is to reach its full potential signature developments are needed right through to the 5-corners at Hillside.



#2886 aastra

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Posted 28 January 2019 - 07:41 PM

From September, 2018:

 

KING 5's "Going Somewhere? We explore the best of Victoria, BC"

 

 

Food and travel blogger Stephanie Forrer takes us on a tour to Victoria, BC for a weekend getaway in our own backyard.

 

 

"I have never been, okay? So, I've been in the Pacific northwest about three, almost four years now. It seems to me like Victoria is just a must do."

"It is. It really is. It's just like quintessential Pacific northwest, on the water. Just that beautiful, beautiful blues that we get in Seattle. Yeah, just a stunning place to visit. And again, some awesome food, too."



#2887 aastra

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Posted 28 January 2019 - 07:50 PM

One of the Best Places in the World | My Travel Journal...

 

 

(regarding the public urinal)

"I don't know why they did a toilet like this where everybody can see you..."

 

 

"We're here at the park of the totems, it's very close to downtown. We just keeping finding things just walking and walking. We really love this city."

 

I enjoyed the folks in this video. I like the tone of it, too.

 

*****

 

Downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria - Cheap and Easy!

 

 

My girlfriend and I recently took a trip from Vancouver to Victoria. One thing we noticed when planning the trip though, is that it's surprisingly difficult to find good information on how to do it.


Edited by aastra, 28 January 2019 - 09:43 PM.


#2888 aastra

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Posted 28 January 2019 - 10:40 PM

I don't know if this older video has been posted here before: "Victoria, British Columbia in One Day - Sunrise to Sunset"

 

The guy's intro is terrifically sincere, the way he expresses his appreciation and enjoyment of all the details that make the harbour scene so special. His intro is actually worth a listen regardless of the fact that Victoria is the subject. It just recalls every trip you've ever taken yourself to some place really interesting, inspiring, redeeming, etc.

 

 

First of all, we started the day off early with a gorgeous sunrise...

I tell you, it makes you appreciate life. This was the view from our room....

...so you wake up in the morning as the light is coming in and you're greeted to a view like this. I mean, how amazing is that?

...our day started right then and there. And we're thinking we're going to have to get going. We're going to go have breakfast and get out and see Victoria. But there's already so many things happening around us. I kid you not, listening to the birds, watching people rowing their boats by, and seeing everything that's going on: tug boats, the bridge raising... there were seagulls nesting on the roof next door to us. We could have spent the whole day in the hotel room, sitting on the balcony...

...aside from the fact that there are so many things going on, we are passionate so we see the little details...

 

To me he's getting at how Victoria actually can feel like a truly exceptional destination, like something from far away, in Europe or wherever (genuinely so, not in the cornball "tourism biz" way). As he's taking it all in he's getting it. It's a special place. It's a place to be consumed and explored and experienced. Waking up to your harbour view in Victoria is not like (no offense) waking up in Calgary or Oshawa or wherever. Victoria isn't merely for tourists; it's for travellers.

 

In terms of this being a development forum, I thnk it's crucial that all development and redevelopment in the harbour area contributes to the mystique and enhances the unique romance of the place. It's all about the city and the harbour and the city's relationship with the harbour. The views are crucial. More is more. Note how much he savours the view from his high hotel room (from Harbour Towers, ironically). There can never be enough layers to the city, if you get my meaning. Keep on adding more layers, keep on making them better. More detail, more to see, more to discover.


Edited by aastra, 28 January 2019 - 10:43 PM.

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#2889 Nparker

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Posted 30 January 2019 - 08:42 AM

Just when I thought Victoria might be moving away from it's "quaint" designation... :whyme:

...I do not like the decisions that are being made in the city, as it is becoming a concrete jungle with all the condos being built. Tourists visit Victoria because it is a quaint and charming city, but if we keep going this way, it will all be lost...

https://www.timescol...ngle-1.23616652

 



#2890 AllseeingEye

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Posted 30 January 2019 - 07:39 PM

/\.......pretty amusing: since when is a city of 400,000 'quaint'? Clearly this person is stuck in 1961....

 

San Jose del Cabo, MX is quaint; Aberystwyth, Wales is quaint (bonus points if you can pronounce it correctly. I can because I've been there twice); Mahone Bay NS is quaint.....

 

Victoria hasn't sold itself as "quaint" in quite some time, thankfully - nor should it IMO. We're all grown up now and way beyond quaint. Its well past time to put on our Big Boy Pants now. Thank God.....


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#2891 spanky123

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 08:42 AM

^Regardless of what it is, "quaint" is how Victoria is marketed. The reality is that a 400K City with the same stores, restaurants, pubs and architecture (ie condos) as every other 400K+ City isn't that big a tourist draw. 



#2892 Nparker

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 08:57 AM

^Regardless of what it is, "quaint" is how Victoria is marketed...

We are well into the 21st century now and Victoria has much more going for it than "quaint". It's time we started taking ourselves seriously and drop the cutesy schtick that has dominated the region's marketing for far too long.



#2893 Mike K.

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 09:45 AM

Once you start to inch up to the half-million point the differences between a large and a medium-sized city rapidly diminish (large city being Calgary/Edmonton/Quebec by Canadian standards).

 

And if it wasn't for the ridiculousness of what constitutes Victoria's CMA, we'd be pushing 500,000 now if you lump in the southern half of the Cowichan Valley in with the rest of southern Vancouver Island. The reason why we're still below 400,000 is pure politics and not the physical realities of our area. Also the Gulf Islands are part of Victoria's metro, with many residents living on them dependent on the south Island for most of their shopping/services and off-Island employment.


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#2894 Hotel Mike

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 11:09 AM

Let's not be so quick to dismiss "quaint" as an anachronism from past tourist campaigns. To add to All Seeing Eye's list, there are big cities that are still quaint, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam or other Dutch cities, even places like San Antonio, Texas. That doesn't mean they are hick towns. It means the cities have been able to grow into modern urban centres, while preserving the historical and architectural integrity of older areas. I say let's gobble up our quaintness and make sure the city around it grows in an attractive and effective way.


Don't be so sure.:cool:

#2895 Nparker

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 11:23 AM

Let's not be so quick to dismiss "quaint" as an anachronism from past tourist campaigns. To add to All Seeing Eye's list, there are big cities that are still quaint, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam ..

I'd never apply the term quaint to any of those places. It would be more appropriate to say historic. I'd stick "quaint" into the trash bin of history if I could.



#2896 lanforod

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 01:36 PM

I'd call Chemainus quaint as a local example.



#2897 Nparker

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 01:42 PM

I'd call Chemainus quaint as a local example.

Last I heard Chemainus wasn't approaching 400,000 residents.



#2898 lanforod

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 01:47 PM

Yes, precisely. I can't really think of a larger city that is quaint.  It's a subjective word though; others may call Copenhagen quaint to them, and that's okay. And yet others may call Victoria quaint, and that's fine to them. What isn't fine is complaining if it is no longer fitting their definition of quaint, especially when most people wouldn't define Victoria as quaint anymore.

 

I'll note that most people who think of Victoria as quaint are probably only referring to the downtown/legislature/harbour area.


Edited by lanforod, 31 January 2019 - 01:47 PM.


#2899 Nparker

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 01:54 PM

...I'll note that most people who think of Victoria as quaint are probably only referring to the downtown/legislature/harbour area.

And not the "concrete jungle" that the traditionally-popular-with-tourists Harris Green neighbourhood is becoming?  :rolleyes:



#2900 AllseeingEye

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Posted 31 January 2019 - 05:21 PM

Let's not be so quick to dismiss "quaint" as an anachronism from past tourist campaigns. To add to All Seeing Eye's list, there are big cities that are still quaint, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam or other Dutch cities, even places like San Antonio, Texas. That doesn't mean they are hick towns. It means the cities have been able to grow into modern urban centres, while preserving the historical and architectural integrity of older areas. I say let's gobble up our quaintness and make sure the city around it grows in an attractive and effective way.

.....and there you have it IMO. Exactly.

 

One of the very best examples of that trend is.....wait for it.....Omaha, Nebraska. Yup. Omaha. It is one of, if not the finest and very best examples of, mid-19th century American "West" architecture in existence. It has literally neighborhood after neighborhood of brilliantly restored 1870-90's houses, some of the very you'll ever see anywhere, period. In fact the city has well over a hundred individual properties listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. And most of it puts anything you can find here to shame, particularly the Old Market section of downtown Omaha, something that Victoria can frankly only dream about...

 

Omaha however also has a vibrant and modern and bustling downtown replete with all manner of modern architecture; and that really is what chaps me about too many Victorians who are desperate for "ye bygone era" (its likely bygone for a reason folks!), in addition to "quaint" Victoria. While most other cities can happily co-exist with and reconcile the two realities, the old and the new, the historic vs the vision of the future, far too many Victorians cling desperately to "quaint" all the while sniffling and groaning and complaining that its not 1965 anymore....

 

Well no it isn't. And while Victoria 2019 definitely doesn't look like the Victoria of 54 years ago I'll bet you my mortgage payment - and raise and see you whatever investments I have kicking around - that the Victoria of 1965 sure as s*** didn't look like the Victoria of 1911 either. And that Victoria circa 1911 bore_no_resemblance to the tiny colonial outpost of 1857....

 

And why not? Because it grew up that's why not. And it expanded. And it evolved. IOW it CHANGED - as it has always changed throughout its existence - and continues to do so. We don't - and shouldn't - expect that this place somehow exists in a vacuum where time stands still. Cuz its not going to happen peoples. And as I've said before - we have a perfectly nice museum on the inner harbor, one which I enjoy visiting on occasion. I have zero wish, however, to live in a museum....


Edited by AllseeingEye, 31 January 2019 - 05:52 PM.


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