Adamo: Visitors From All Over the World Are Coming Downtown, So Should You

Adamo: Visitors From All Over the World Are Coming Downtown, So Should You

One of the privileges of welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors to Providence every year is the opportunity to see my hometown from their perspective. People love our neighborhoods – whether it’s the charming, tree-lined streets of the East Side or the cool, colorful city landscape of the West Side.  What’s really an eye-opener, though, is the way visitors react to our downtown.  They praise the walkability, the great restaurants, the outdoor events, the architecture, and the way that our rivers seem to be the very lifeblood of the city center.  So why don’t Rhode Islanders feel the same way?

 

A group of downtown partners, led by the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau (PWCVB), the Providence Foundation, and the Downtown Improvement District (DID), has been trying to tackle that very question.  Last spring, the PWCVB commissioned a study by Provoke Insights to survey people within a one-hour drive of downtown (which includes the Jewelry District) to find out how they feel about the city center.

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One key finding was that the group of people who disparage downtown on social media isn’t the largest.  It’s just the loudest. The survey found that 28% of people are “promoters” who love downtown Providence, while 40% are “passives” who can be convinced to come downtown for a reason, and 31% could be considered “detractors.” And, when you look at the data broken down by state, half of the people who were surveyed and lived in Massachusetts and Connecticut hold downtown in high regard.

 

Those findings tell destination marketing people like me two things: that 40% can be persuaded to visit downtown with compelling events and strong messaging; and that the downtown image problem is a local one.

 

Our group, which also includes large and small business owners, has already begun working on ways to get that 40% back downtown. In early June, we launched an advertising campaign in the drive market to promote spending time in the heart of the city. With the tagline “Downtown is Your Town,” it focuses on the people that work or live in Downtown Providence.  And it’s true.  Downtown really is your town.  A city center can only thrive if it is embraced by the people who live there.  My team and I bring in visitors from all over the world who will happily wander downtown and partake in all it has to offer but they eventually leave.  Local support needs to be the foundation on which tourism is built.

 

Our downtown has the same issues that my colleagues in cities across the United States are facing.  All cities struggle to compassionately care for people experiencing homelessness and substance abuse problems.  Many cities are working to correctly balance the need for transportation alternatives, such as bike lanes or urban trails, with a car-centric workforce.

 

However, our downtown is ripe with opportunity.  The City of Providence, our arts and cultural community, and other groups have developed a slate of fun activities and events for summer and fall. New residential projects will allow more people to live in the heart of the city. The Downtown Providence Parks Network and the City of Providence are promoting and programming green space all over Providence’s core. The Downtown Improvement District – our clean and safe team – has lengthened its daily hours of service.

 

What is needed now is public participation.  We need workers back in their offices, at least for a couple of days a week.  We ask people to pair that visit to WaterFire or PPAC with a dinner downtown. Try a kayak ride through the city.  Check out the Roller Disco in the Providence Rink. Or visit DowntownPVD.com for more ideas on how to spend time in the heart of the city.

 

As someone who loves Providence so much that I promote it for a living, one of the most disheartening things I hear from my fellow Rhode Islanders is “I haven’t been downtown in years.” I think it’s time for those people to discover all the great things that visitors find in our downtown.

 

Kristen Adamo is the President & CEO of the PWCVB.