Never in my right mind would I have ever believed Atlanta needs more tourist options but after looking at the number of visitors, the existing options, and being a user of the overall tourist experience, there is so much more room for growth, particularly for family friendly tourist options.
Last fall, our family of four had a few hours to explore after a Smorgasburg visit. We went over to the Atlanta SkyView and while at the top saw how many people were going to the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coke. Neither my wife nor I had been to the “new” World of Coke – which moved there in 2007! As we descended from the Atlanta SkyView, we decided to take the kids to the World of Coke. Between the World of Coke and the Aquarium it was packed with people from all over the world. The Aquarium has approximately 2.5M-3M people visit it a year. The back of the napkin math numbers on the World of Coke visitors a year is between 1M-1.5M.
When you add the National Center for Civil and Human Rights which has approximately 200k visitors a year and the Children’s Museum which had 180k visitors last year, that one northern corner at the bottom of the hill in Centennial Olympic Park generates a 24/7 stream of tourists and visitors.
It’s wonderful!
This is a very important pocket of the vast definition of Downtown Atlanta. Then, if you decide to walk across the park, you get to the College Football Hall of Fame which brings in anywhere from 200k-400k visitors a year. We have a strong foundation of tourist attractions in a very condensed area.
All of these are open and humming now, which is before The Downtown Awakening upon us. When you include Cosm and Live Nation sandwiched in between State Farm and the Benz and the density starts to stand up the hair on your arms.
Add in Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth site, The King Center, Botanical Gardens, Zoo Atlanta, Fernbank and one begins to see how 50+ million people a year come to downtown Atlanta and can make a full weekend out of it.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the most popular tourist attraction in all of Georgia: Stone Mountain with 4M visitors a year!
All of these create a perfect environment for more tourism, particularly around families. We took a family trip up to New York City last weekend. The kids love Home Alone 2 so Central Park, dinner at The Plaza, pigeons, and toy stores were where we started. Where we ended included The Harry Potter Store, Broadway, FAO Schwartz, making custom M&M’s at their major retail store, breakfast at the American Girl Doll store, and a visit to the top of The Summit at One Vanderbilt. Surprise and delights included Up One NYC started by a Ga Tech grad. We also purchased two of the over 30 million frrrrozen hot chocolates served at Seredipity iii.
I came back from the NYC trip realizing we can do more storytelling to the already 50M+ people who visit downtown Atlanta and what better way than through family experiences.
It is still a big question how much visitor traffic South Downtown’s unique, boutique, and local restaurants will receive from the concentrated tourist area of downtown. A 6-7 min drive or a 22 min walk to South Broad Street from the World of Coke can seem like another city.
Here are a few random ideas for more touristy attractions that lean in our city’s strengths.
We have filmed so many movies and shows in and around the city, having a dare I write, bus tour of everything from the Walking Dead, Fight Night, Sharky’s Machine, Gone with Wind, Atlanta, Black Panther, Stranger Things, and the dozen other well known shows or movies filmed just in in downtown Atlanta.
The Waffle House Corporation owns a location right on Centennial Olympic Park. Imagine if they expanded that building and made a Waffle House Experience. A place where children could learn about what makes the home grown, iconic brand so special. The Jelly Cat Diner experience is completely booked out for an entire month as I write; there is no question the brand geniuses at Waffle House could create an environment where dreams are weaved together with a bountiful set of opportunities to create custom waffle stuffies for children.
The Center (Old CNN Center) has an amazing opportunity to channel its inner child. The Omni started out with the largest indoor skating rink. See a picture below and read more about it here in Atlanta Magazine. Between all the retail and restaurants coming to downtown Atlanta, creating environments where families can do entertaining or educational experiences is so important to the full Atlanta experience and The Center is so well suited to create those.
The tourist side of New York has its pros and cons. Time Square is uncool to locals yet it is a massive ingredient to New York’s brand and character. Several times I was in line at one of the tourist attractions and I looked around and said to myself, "who waits in these lines to pay this much money for custom named M&M’s" and 30 minutes into the line, I realized, “Me, I am that person!” and when I saw the look on my kid’s faces when they got their names printed on the M&M’s, it was completely worth the crowds and wait.
Which brings me to the last point, how does “tourism” or touristy things, or even tourist traps fit into South Downtown? Before the trip to New York it had never crossed my mind about a touristy angle to South Downtown – perhaps except history tours.
Touristy and authenticity have a complex relationship.
If there was one experience in South Downtown that could potentially have a line out the door with tourists who must “go there,” wrapped around a family experience, while still align naturally to the story would be taking the old Soda Palace at Liquid Carbonics (pictures included) and turning it into an early 1900’s soda fountain shop and experience. Not an idea we are currently pursuing, but here are 22 of the best original soda fountain shops and turning the original Liquid Carbonics building back into a soda fountain palace may be something fun for locals and residents, and if it’s done right, who knows might find it.