Stop whining about Baltimore, Baltimore. You're scaring the tourists away.
I work for an infamous downtown Baltimore hotel. On a daily basis, Baltimoreans complain about my workplace on Twitter, in the news, in person. It’s not even that I particularly agree with the business moves of my employer, but I do believe in the tourism industry. This is especially true in a city like Baltimore, a city that is known for its murder rate almost as much as it’s known for its crab cakes.
The same folks that complain about Baltimore tourism industry tanking are the ones that also seem to whine about the inconveniences of Sailabration, the Red Sox/Yankees traveling to O’s games, or any other number of larger, touristy events. Yes, these events bring traffic headaches, visitors walking slowly in the streets and having to answer questions like, “Well, where do the locals like to go drink?”, but they also bring millions of dollars to downtown hotels, shops, restaurants, and attractions.
In a city like Baltimore – branded by drug deals, murder, and portrayals of these things on The Wire – we need to support the tourism and hospitality industry. Sometimes that’ll mean helping out-of-towners find Charm City Cakes, or getting the word out about our awesome local beer scene. And that’s okay. We have a lot to offer and we’re selling ourselves short.
Keeping Baltimore afloat is a community effort. We can all work to bring more business here, whether that means conferences and large-scale events, or deciding to stay in Charm City for your family reunions and weddings. That way, we won’t have to wait 200 more years for Sailabration, or worry that the large hotels downtown are falling short of their revenue goals.
Because trust me, people will fall in love with Baltimore; we just need to get them here first.
– This post is anonymous!
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Charm City Now Charm City Now provides real news, stories, and thoughts from unique individuals in and around Baltimore, Maryland.
