Negativity in Adelaide

[jk1237]

If you were a tourist coming to Australia from overseas, would you come to Adelaide? Having been to America and had no problems finding things to do, Adelaide would get boring in about half a day. Yes there's museums and beaches, but they're no different to the rest of Australia. There is no one single item that would draw people in. The City Loop bus is about #8 on the Trip Advisor list of "Things to Do", that about sums it up.

It doesn't help that we have a pee wee PT network that consists of one electrified line and a half done job on another. It feels incomplete and doesn't create a good image. Also the fare structure needs work, starting with getting rid of the paper tickets, unless you're using the airport transfer.

Then living here is an issue, with just about the most expensive power prices in the world and water not much better.

We also happen to have one of the most expensive buildings ever constructed, that's only 8 stories tall. Its certainly no the Freedom Tower

ha, almost straight out of the hideous Adelaide Now posting manual guide

[thecityguy]

I don't think any city except Sydney actually has "one single item to draw you in" (bridge, opera house).

Id say Adelaide's target market for tourists is a slightly older demographic. And we absolutely nail it! Nearby world class wine regions, nice beaches nearby, museums, great city eateries, and a really pretty CBD.

But saying that there is certainly plenty to do for a weekend in Adelaide if your younger too. Adelaide oval, Glenelg, and the nightlife is great too, specifically the fact that the clubs/bars are pretty much all located along the one strip.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[crawf]

Meanwhile in Sydney

Businesses have reported up to a 40 per loss in revenue since the lock-out laws were introduced. It is understood one large establishment's profits have plunged 75 per cent since 2013.

Pedestrian traffic is down 84 per cent compared with 2012 levels.

Source

And let's not forget the great state of Queensland........


Perhaps Adelaide isn't that bad after all.....

It's a complete myth that negativity only exists in SA. Just take a look at any of the social media or news comments interstate, full of strong negative ill-informed comments and stupidity that gives AdelaideNow a run for it's money.

After all the significant changes recently, I'd say there is more optimism than negativity these days in Adelaide. Ofcourse this more relates to the city itself, rather than the state economy and jobs situation.

[Wayno]

It's a complete myth that negativity only exists in SA. Just take a look at any of the social media or news comments interstate, full of strong negative ill-informed comments and stupidity that gives AdelaideNow a run for it's money.

Nail on the head. It's a global phenomenon. I travel far and wide for my job and see & hear the same BS everywhere.

Don't read news website comments. Period.

[bits]

People that say Adelaide has nothing to offer simply have never looked. They are lazy boring people.
Adelaide has plenty of tourist attractions.
Many huge gardens, old buildings, many wine regions, venues like ao/ec/ft, shopping regions like rundle mall and central markets, constant stream of festivals, national parks, views of the city or landscapes, restaurants, museums and beaches. There is endless things to do.

What is it missing exactly?
Do we need 4 more levels on a building somewhere or a bigger rollercoaster to be a worthwhile destination?

[Jaymz]

I had a friend visit from Perth in April, and I loved the opportunity to show her some of the good things in Adelaide.
In the space of 3 days we visited Adelaide Zoo, Botanic gardens, Rundle Mall, Central Markets, Chinatown and food court,
Glenelg, Gouger Street, North Terrace. And her favourite part of all was the rose gardens in the south parklands.

I enjoyed it as much as she did, and when I think about it we really only scratched the surface.
Those people that say we have nothing to do here either have never been here or don't get out much.

[mshagg]

I had a friend visit from Perth in April, and I loved the opportunity to show her some of the good things in Adelaide.
In the space of 3 days we visited Adelaide Zoo, Botanic gardens, Rundle Mall, Central Markets, Chinatown and food court,
Glenelg, Gouger Street, North Terrace. And her favourite part of all was the rose gardens in the south parklands.

I enjoyed it as much as she did, and when I think about it we really only scratched the surface.
Those people that say we have nothing to do here either have never been here or don't get out much.

Great tour! Personally speaking it's not something I do enough of - at the risk of stealing the ACC's catch phrase... being a tourist in my own city.

As for the topic of the thread, my main comparisons points are Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, given I spend a fair whack of time there for work. The one sense I get is that our suburbs and their inhabitants are far less connected to the city than in other places. Perhaps this stems from our manufacturing based past, where many people have never worked in the city and those that do (120,000 people give or take) don't stop to smell the roses between their workplace and their car park or bus stop.

If you've lived and worked in the northern suburbs for your whole life, how engaged are you in a debate about a tunnel through the park lands? Or what do you really think when you see the premier spruiking the benefits of a development on the riverbank? Is it any surprise people bitch about having to pay for a car park in the city when they're used to pulling up at the front door of a retail mall? If your trade has been thrown onto the scrap heap, is it unreasonable to resent government efforts to foster innovation and entrepreneurship - both of which are heavily skewed towards 'inner city' types? I'm sure these attitudes persist in larger cities, but I guess they have a critical mass of people who live in the city - or at least don't object to travelling there.

I think the promotion of Adelaide... sorry, South Australia... has something to answer to. It was only recently that the focus shifted from "Hey come to the Barossa or KI or McLaren Vale or whatever, you don't even have to stop in the city" to actually promoting the city as a destination. Obviously AO has been a catalyst in that regard and the flood of small bars and hipster food outlets compliment the shift. Interstaters are almost universally pleasantly surprised, if not amazed, at how much they enjoy themselves here. Comments used to be "It must be such a nice quiet place to live", now it's "wow, Adelaide is actually a really cool place".

[claybro]

The one sense I get is that our suburbs and their inhabitants are far less connected to the city than in other places

A spot on observation. It is to do with the woefully inadequate and infrequent public transport. Slow, irregular and unreliable. Folk living in the likes of Hindmarsh for example, would far rather get into their car, and drive to West Lakes to shop or be entertained than go into the city. I would even go so far as to say that since the advent of Adelaide Oval, there are people that have got onto a train or bus and gone into the city for the first time in 20 odd years.

[Jaymz]

The one sense I get is that our suburbs and their inhabitants are far less connected to the city than in other places

A spot on observation. It is to do with the woefully inadequate and infrequent public transport. Slow, irregular and unreliable. Folk living in the likes of Hindmarsh for example, would far rather get into their car, and drive to West Lakes to shop or be entertained than go into the city. I would even go so far as to say that since the advent of Adelaide Oval, there are people that have got onto a train or bus and gone into the city for the first time in 20 odd years.

You would think that the people of Hindmarsh would be more than willing to use the very regular, reliable and FREE tram. Like you said,
public transport hasn't ever been hugely popular in Adelaide, probably due to the relative ease of getting around in a car....... up until
last 5 or 10 years anyway. Traffic congestion in inner city suburbs is getting beyond a joke during peak hours.

[Norman]

Hopefully the new tram network will connect the inner city to the city centre, and vice versa. I never visit The Parade unless I really have to, but a new tram connection might drive me to visit the place more often.

[claybro]

Hopefully the new tram network will connect the inner city to the city centre, and vice versa. I never visit The Parade unless I really have to, but a new tram connection might drive me to visit the place more often.

Part of the disconnection with the CBD and inner suburbs is also because of the parklands. People are negative about visiting the CBD even from inner areas because of the imagined barrier of the parklands. Cant walk in...too hot/cold/ barren and unsafe in the lonely parklands. Cant get a park in the city, bus too infrequent etc. Because they rarely visit, they forget how much Adelaide has to offer as a CBD. Getting the inner suburbs more connected with the CBD and vice versa along with more population, will increase the desire to visit these areas. The trams for inner suburbs will help connect these areas with each other, and the CBD. Just having more people around alone will create the idea of a more progressive busy city, and might shake off the negative small town image.

[monotonehell]

I scoff at the people who say that there's nothing to do in Adelaide. I have a friend who moved here with her husband from Liverpool (UK) about 2 years ago. Not only is her Facebook a conga-line of events, restaurants, wineries and so on she's attending. But she recently had her father and brother visit from Merseyside for a couple of weeks. They had a ball and didn't want to leave.

And this was in the lead up to winter.

People who complain Adelaide has nothing to do are those who stay in their lounge rooms in front of the TV every night.

[duke]

Those people that say we have nothing to do here either have never been here or don't get out much.

I have had the same discussion with friends in Sydney and Melbourne. I have met up with them and been like, "so what can we do now". They just look blankly and have no idea. They just say "there is nothing to do".
One in Sydney had never seen the Opera house in person.
It seems people don't do the tourist things in their own backyard.

The one sense I get is that our suburbs and their inhabitants are far less connected to the city than in other places

A spot on observation. It is to do with the woefully inadequate and infrequent public transport. Slow, irregular and unreliable. Folk living in the likes of Hindmarsh for example, would far rather get into their car, and drive to West Lakes to shop or be entertained than go into the city. I would even go so far as to say that since the advent of Adelaide Oval, there are people that have got onto a train or bus and gone into the city for the first time in 20 odd years.

I remember an article a number of years ago where they were doing special school excursions for some schools in Elizabeth or Salisbury to take students to the city for the first time. I was amazed at how there are people that have never been.

[Goodsy]

The State budget was handed down today and puts SA back in the black for the first time since the GFC.. although you wouldn't guess that coming from the comments on AdelaideNow

[Waewick]

The State budget was handed down today and puts SA back in the black for the first time since the GFC.. although you wouldn't guess that coming from the comments on AdelaideNow

To be fair they sold assets to get there. And the benefit of the sale according to various people was questionable.