Monthly Archive for May, 2008

Niagara Falls, Ont. is growing, but not because of U.S. visitors

From the Buffalo News:

The number of Americans crossing into Ontario steadily declined during the past nine years, but that hasn’t slowed the pace of new hotels and tourist attractions in Niagara Falls, Ont.

A 58-story Hilton Hotel is going up near the Fallsview Casino, and a $7 million virtual experience tour of the formation of Niagara Falls will open this weekend at Table Rock.

Since 1998, $3.5 billion has been invested in the Falls, Ont., tourism community, Jim Williams, chairman of the Niagara (Ont.) Parks Commission, said.

Niagara needs a tourism ambassador too

From the Niagara Falls Review:

How’s Niagara Falls supposed to compete with Hello Kitty?

Earlier this month, Japan’s tourism ministry named Hello Kitty, a cartoon character, its “tourism ambassador” to China and Hong Kong, a market Niagara has also been eager to tap…

If Niagara wanted to follow Japan’s approach, there are so many colourful characters in the history of the falls who could be “cartoonified” and pressed into service as a tourism ambassador.

Summer Vacations with an Edge: Niagara Falls? Really?

Jaunted, “The Pop Culture Travel Guide”, recently had a posting about Niagara Falls:

Yes, you’ve seen Niagara Falls before, but have you ever ventured over the edge in a barrel? No? Here’s a tour that’s the next best thing–and probably a lot safer.

The Falls could use a lift: Reviving tourism at our Wonder of the World

From the Buffalo News:

Most people who would like to see Niagara Falls, N.Y., redevelop as a tourism powerhouse don’t necessarily envision the kind of carnival atmosphere of its neighboring city across the Niagara Gorge.

There are enough tourist trappings on the Canadian side — with more, and bigger ones added routinely— to turn the stomachs of those who seek a more environmentally friendly American side.

Too much P.T. Barnum, not enough Frederick Law Olmsted.

But surely, even the most avid nature enthusiast yearns for something more than what the everyday tourist sees when she crosses the Rainbow Bridge and enters downtown

Daredevil Charles G. Stephens

I’m a few days lat eon this, but on Friday the News - Democrat & Leader (out of Kentucky) had a religious article that mentioned a daredevil named Charles G. Stephens who tried to go over Niagara Falls:

Daredevil Charles G. Stephens was one of many to attempt to survive a barrel ride over Niagara Falls, but his technique was probably the most interesting-and disastrous. He put an anvil in the barrel with him for ballast. In the end, the anvil served only to speed up his demise.

Stephens was a victim of a bad plan to challenge an immense power, so his only claim to fame was the way he died.

The Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls Canada Announces Free Admission to a Popular Niagara Falls Attraction When Enjoying Niagara Fallsview Dining

Wow, that’s a long title! The following is from a press release at Hospitality Net from the Skylon Tower:

The Skylon Tower announces FREE admission to the popular Niagara Falls attraction Ride-to-the-Top and Indoor/Outdoor Observation Decks when dining. Visitors to Niagara Falls can combine the experience of this favorite Niagara Falls attraction with the best of Niagara Fallsview dining. Admission to the Skylon Tower Niagara Falls attraction is included FREE when dining in the Skylon world-famous Revolving Dining Room or the Skylon family-affordable Summit Suite Buffet Dining Room. Both are located 775 feet above the mighty Falls and provide once-in-a-lifetime panoramic views of Niagara Falls.

You mean to tell me it hasn’t always been free?!?!

Niagara’s Fury delayed by inspection

From the Niagara Falls Review:

Niagara’s Fury is facing further delays.

Niagara Parks Commission spokesman Tony Baldinelli said Monday it might be Friday before the Transportation Safety Standards Association signs off on the attraction, allowing people to ride.

“We’re really at their mercy,” he said.

She greets each day at falls happily

From the Buffalo News:

Norma K. Fulp spends her summer afternoons armed with maps and information as she waits for tourists by the rapids of the upper Niagara River.

The part-time nurse and Niagara Falls resident is a volunteer for the Niagara Greeters “Info On the Go” program.

The program, in its fifth year, will dispatch dozens of volunteers like Fulp starting this weekend to streets outside Niagara Falls State Park to help tourists find their way.

‘Disappointing’ weekend

From the Niagara Falls Review:

Who says travellers are sticking close to home this summer?

Nearly half of America’s 50 states were represented in the Niagara Parks Commission’s parking lot at Table Rock Sunday afternoon. Throngs of people strolled along the walkway adjacent to the falls, lazed in the park, dined in cafes in the park and on Clifton Hill, speaking in languages that would be a United Nations’ translator’s dream: Japanese, Chinese, South Asian, French, Spanish, German, Italian and ones of Eastern European origin. British and Australian accents were also heard.

But tourism operators like Tim Parker, general manager of Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, Ripley’s Moving Theatre and the Louis Toussauds Wax Works said the attractions are down about 10 per cent over a wet Memorial Day weekend last year.

An Unnatural Wonder

From the Washington Post:

“This book documents an obsession,” writes Ginger Strand in her entertaining study of the exploitation of Niagara Falls, both town and waterfall. Niagara’s history, she claims, is fraught with “falsification, prevarication and omission.” In Inventing Niagara, she sets out on a quest to cut through the cultural accretions of centuries and find the fundamental truth about Niagara.

At its most basic, Niagara Falls is a big, green waterfall that straddles the border between the United States and Canada on the strait that links Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. But over time, Niagara has also become a place of kitschy tourism, daredevil stunts, gambling and large-scale industrial development which all too quickly turned into environmental disaster. The waterfall itself has been propped up and rejiggered by feats of engineering in an attempt to prevent it from crumbling under the force of its own water and to maintain its scenic impact despite the diversion of as much as three-quarters of its water to produce electricity.