Reply to DC wants to raise hotel taxes to increase tourism

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People who aren't vacationing in DC because of fear of being murdered are also not vacationing in NYC, Chicago, LA, Seattle... in other words, people who are very fearful of crime avoid large cities. Your risk of being a victim of crime while vacationing in DC are ridiculously low.

The[b] actual threats to tourism in DC are the closures of bars and restaurants and the decline in activity in popular tourist destinations like Chinatown. If raising tourism tax helps the city invest in those neighborhoods and support small businesses, it genuinely could benefit the city.
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Many DC tourists stay outside the city anyway. The big tour groups often stay in budget hotels just outside the city and then take the buses downtown and to the Mall.[/quote]

Extra tax won't revive the areas that don't get enough foot traffic.  To make areas vibrant you need to attract people to live there and/or work there (who would support businesses at street level).  parts of downtown DC that have more apartment buildings have more stuff open, more restaurants, etc.  Areas with office buildings and hotels are dead everywhere in every city after half the workers moved to remote work and won't come back. DC is starting to slowly convert some commercial empty office building into residential, that should help making city more attractive for tourists too.  You don't need extra tax to do this.    [/quote]

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