Urban Tourism and Transportation; The Lesson for Atlanta

Tourism has exponentially increased over the years due to the drastic improvement in transportation systems leading to ease of travel. Cities, being the centers of economy and development, have greatly benefitted from this advancement in infrastructure resulting in a new form of tourism focused on cities. Cities such as New York City, London, Copenhagen and Chicago have been pioneers in urban tourism. The transportation features of these cities such as extensive bike and pedestrian infrastructure, tourist-oriented transit, great accessibility and connectivity have greatly helped in attracting tourists from all over the world. The World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) uses World Tourism City Index to evaluate the ranking of cities in terms of tourism but does not include transportation characteristics as parameters to measure attraction to cities. This paper identifies transportation features that can be included in the Index based on the characteristics of tourist-friendly cities. The modified Index is used to evaluate Atlanta as a urban tourist destination