What would attract visitors to our city long term?

There are very few places in the UK that have enough things to attract and occupy visitors for a couple of days especially if you are thinking of families so Coventry is no different there. It has got plenty of hotel accommodation available at a whole range of different prices and it is ideally situated to be a base for touring the local area. It's ideal for trips to Warwick, Kenilworth, Leamington, Birmingham, Stratford and many others, so maybe it should publicise this as well as advertising the City itself. Didn't it once advertise itself as "The City in Shakespeare Country"? The success of any visit anywhere often depends on the research you do before you go, so it is essential that this can be done quite easily. Whenever anybody I know is thinking of coming here for a visit, which happens quite often, I always direct them to this site first

I walk through the city centre many times at night and feel perfectly safe. I did it on Friday night (and was quite happy to see that the new restaurants in Broadgate were all busy. So maybe the city is getting better in terms of 'city life'). Having said that, the city centre was quite poorly planned and designed and I can see why people wouldn't feel safe. It doesn't self-police well due to its back to front nature. If I were in charge I'd be putting as much resource as possible into sorting it out and not endlessly repaving the same streets.

While casinos probably have a place, is Vegas really something you want Coventry to emulate? Yes, it gets a lot of visitors but is it worth going down that route? It's an immensely tacky place that would hold no stead for history etc - if you can build something bigger that will make more money - knock whats already there down. While there is competition in terms of hotels etc, they try to keep all those visitors contained in their own space - they don't want people going outside and spending their money elsewhere. They don't care if it's good for the city, just that it's good for them. It provides jobs, but many of them are low paid service industry jobs. It generates huge amounts of money, but most of that goes to corporations who whisk it away to tax havens ASAP. Vegas is called Sin City for a reason. It has massive underlying social problems - drugs, prostitution, crime. Alcohol and gambling are obviously high.

AD, you have to be joking, unless it has drastically changed in the last few years, it was as clean as a new pin, I saw no drugs, no drunks, and prostitution was undercover like any town in Britain, sin city was fifty years ago, I spent a wonderful time there, never gambled one penny, and like I posted the crime is not on the streets, it has wonderful hotels and swimming pools, water features etc. Tacky place I don't understand, it has buildings so realistic to history you gaze in awe, the topmost entertainers and shows perform there, the staff in the hotel get 'tips' like a month's wages in Coventry, as I say unless it has changed in the last few years, to me you're way out of line on this one. I was in Coventry a few months ago, a couple of betting shops there should be pulled down, the worst, dirtiest gambling places I have ever entered, I walked out in disgust, could that be where you are judging from.

No, it's based on someone I know who worked there for a year, and they said behind the razzle-dazzle is a massively seedy underbelly you really don't want to get caught up in. You mentioned the high levels of security around - you only have that much if you need it to prevent trouble breaking out. From personal experience I can say Chicago is a lovely city - clean, friendly - but there are huge problems beneath the surface I gladly didn't get to see. You mentioned the tips, but the actual wages tend to be terrible. Would you be happy to build you life around a job which paid terribly but once in a while there is an outside chance of a huge bonus being given to you at random? Tackiness is subjective, but from my personal standpoint I do find it tacky. Light up like a Xmas tree, with recreations of other buildings. Maybe visiting is OK, but I wouldn't want to live there. That is for me a major issue - getting more visitors into Coventry whilst also keeping it as a nice place to live. Turning into something Vegas like won't do that IMO.

We visited LV two years ago but only because my son got married there. Plenty of prostitutes who are rather intrusive and to be honest a bit scary. We went looking for a second hand shop that is often shown on TV and noticed that the further one got from the strip the more grotty they were. We found the shop. Now then, I am big at 6ft 3inches,17 stone and ex-amateur wrestler, but the guy on the door was massive. "Good day sir and welcome to our shop. If you need assistance just ask". That shop is a gold mine. Back to the strip. What I found most annoying were the boy racers that went up and down the strip all evening sounding their horns and generally being a pain in the butt. I found that the casinos very sad places, robotic-like people getting rid of their money as quickly as possible. Feeding the slot machines with money while assistants waited behind them ready to top up the punters with a continuous supply of coins. The glitter on the strip is a spectacle, but don't look at what lies beneath.

Norman Conquest, then it has changed somewhat, never heard of boy racers, or saw any prostitutes being intrusive, I found Carter's cave and the story of Tutankhamen mask, the Hoover dam, the white tigers in Caesar's Palace, all of interest to me. I turned a blind eye to slot machine people - but the topic is about attracting people, Why do the political people go to Blackpool or Brighton if Coventry have the accommodation and facilities and are more central?

Kaga, there are very few towns that have venues to accommodate politicians' inflated egos for a party conference.

You are correct Robin. Seaside resorts usually have large halls that other towns do not have, halls that would be otherwise empty. I wouldn't like to see large amounts of our money spent to supply accommodation for bloated egos.

Norman Conquest, forget the bloated egos, they fill the town and spend a lot of cash. I know for a fact they pay cash for their stay in guesthouses, if they reclaim it from somewhere I would not know, and the hall is always in use, so all in all the town benefits in a large way. Just trying to suggest ways Coventry can attract visitors.

Yes Kaga, but it's your cash they are spending. Every penny spent, and more, goes on the politicians' expense account. As for holding conferences in Coventry or Brighton, it's obvious where they would chose to go. It's also questionable if these conferences are really necessary or just an excuse to go to the seaside for a few days. As for attracting tourists to Coventry I don't think it will ever be possible. Most of the city centre is drab and cheerless and without demolishing most of it and having a rethink I don't know what could be done. Anyone who could design a corn flake box could design the basic structure of the precinct area. I totally agree with you about the betting shops, although I never go in them. Flatten the lot. As for a casino on the old "leckie" site, I have been to LV twice, with a gap of thirty years between visits, and there always seem to be plenty of people gambling. I have seen snack meals being given to the punters just to keep them at the tables and slot machines. I have been told that the Standard Casino, like the one in Hillfields, has been closed for some time, I didn't know about that when I mentioned them on a previous post. The Genting and the Ricoh Casino appear to have syphoned off punters. Perhaps the city's old casinos were too dated for the punter of today.

Somebody must be doing something right! Coventry sees huge surge in tourists from overseas I just wish I knew what it was! Peter,

I'd imagine it's family & friends coming to visit foreign students.

Davey. I have noticed more tourists buses in the city but those tourists are not staying in Coventry. I wonder who is counting them to arrive at such a precise figure.

I'll second that Davey. I'd also suggest that both universities have better modern buildings than those proposed for Friargate and Bishopgate. Though I do concede that the university buildings are designed to fulfill a particular function whereas city centre office blocks may need to change use over their lifetime.