ROOM COUNT
Since 2000, the number of Atlanta hotel rooms that would appeal to well-heeled Super Bowl attendees has increased faster than those at lower price levels.
Upscale, luxury rooms
2000: 32,329
2016: 40,442
Lower-priced rooms
2000: 55,693
2016: 54,441
Source: PKF Consulting
FIVE DON’T-MISS PLACES
Atlanta has lots of places to visit for Super Bowl fans. Here are five that are new or improved since 2000:
1. Porsche Experience Center: Porsche's new North American headquarters near Hartsfield-Jackson International includes a test track that allows drivers to hone their skills.
2. Atlanta Beltline Tours: Atlanta is developing a 22-mile loop of abandoned railway into the city's newest pedestrian and residential/commercial hotspot. To spotlight the potential, Beltline officials offer a tour of developed and undeveloped land and expose a great deal of Atlanta's history along the way.
3. Ponce City Market: What used to be a giant Sears building has been redeveloped with restaurants, retail stores, offices and soon a rooftop amusement park of sorts.
4. "Walking Dead" tours: Filmed in and around Atlanta the cable hit has generated its own fan tours of filming sites that stretch from the outlying town of Senoia to disregarded urban streets to a few very nice buildings — The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, for one — that were turned into ruins through movie magic.
5. Piedmont Park: Though neither new nor unusual, Atlanta's premier greenspace has expanded with new wetlands and trails and almost always offers some kind of event for visitors. It offers a stunning view of the city's Midtown skyline, is close to great restaurants and is a perfect showcase of the city's diversity.
HEAD COUNT
Atlanta visitation has increased almost 42 percent since 2000, according to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Visitors by year:
2000: 36 million
2010: 38 million
2011: 41 million
2012: 43 million
2013: 46 million
2014: 49 million
2015: 51 million
The last time Atlanta hosted a Super Bowl in 2000, the city was in search of a post-Summer Olympics identity.
Underground Atlanta, downtown’s biggest attraction, was struggling. City leaders had just ended the annual Freaknik gathering after years of increasingly bad publicity. Two of the more popular lures — strip clubs and Buckhead’s party district – were not exactly chamber of commerce talking points.
Today, with the Super Bowl set to return in three years, Atlanta is a very different destination.
It boasts one of the world’s largest aquariums, a downtown Ferris Wheel, and museums for civil rights and college football. Beyond downtown, Porsche North America offers a driving racetrack for well-heeled enthusiasts, while “Walking Dead” fans can sight-see scenes of the apocalyptic cable TV hit.
Those changes are important to Atlanta’s hopes of capitalizing on this week’s announcement that it will host the 2019 Super Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The event will bring the kind of exposure few other gatherings generate.
“Serving as Super Bowl host in 2019 allows us to showcase the exciting transformation downtown Atlanta has undergone since we last hosted this prestigious event in 2000,” William Pate, president of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in a statement.
Ken Bernhardt, regents professor of marketing emeritus at Georgia State University, agreed.
“Post recession, Atlanta has definitely had its mojo returned,” he said. “You’ve got some world-class new attractions that have arrived on the scene in addition to some super restaurants and leading hotels in the nation.”
Others are a little less convinced. Some note that while Super Bowl games go down in history, venues are rarely remembered.
Harold Shumacher, a long-time Atlanta restaurant real estate broker, said Super Bowl visitors tend to be wealthy men looking to play or corporate customers being wined and dined. The attractions Atlanta has added, he said, are geared toward conventioners and tourists.
“It’s a bunch of guys, not families. The Cheetah is going to do the best business,” he said, referring to the venerable strip club.
$15 billion spent
Whatever their reasons for travel, visitors are big business for Atlanta. About 51 million people visited in 2015 and spent about $15 billion, according to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. In addition to supporting thousands of hotel and restaurant jobs, some lodging taxes will go toward the city’s $200 million portion of the new $1.4 billion stadium.
Improving the city’s destination appeal has been a long process. The opening of the Georgia Aquarium in 2005 kicked off a series of new attractions, including the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the new World of Coca-Cola and the College Football Hall of Fame. Back in 2000, the site of each attraction was a parking lot.
The city also has added thousands of hotel rooms – there are about 93,000 rooms total in the area – many of which cater to the high-end visitors who will attend the Super Bowl. Four Seasons Atlanta and the city’s two Ritz Carlton locations — the luxury hotels operating in 2000 — have since been joined by the St. Regis Atlanta, Mandarin Oriental, InterContinental Hotel Atlanta and three W hotels.
“These are great for people who are really sensitive to the hotel experience,” Mark Woodworth, senior managing director of consulting firm PKF Hospitality, said of the high-end lodgers.
Stores lacking
Despite the progress, not all the changes in the past 16 years have been good. In 2003, Macy’s closing of its downtown Atlanta store precipitated an exodus of several others — including Brooks Brothers — eroding an already meager retail offering in the heart of the city. Today the area has a handful of stores, including Jos. A Bank and CVS, though boosters say Atlantic Station — a shopping center erected after the 2000 Super Bowl — is just a cab ride away.
Those expecting to party with their red cups in hand in Buckhead will be disappointed. The death of two men in Buckhead’s party district after the 2000 game kicked off a decade-long effort to reimagine the area, which is now the tony mixed-use development The Shops Buckhead Atlanta.
Overall, the marketing Atlanta gets out of the Super Bowl can go a long way toward the city’s goal of getting conventioneers and businesspeople to venture beyond the meeting room while here and maybe even stay a few days after their work is over.
Francesca Vereb, director of product marketing at event management company CVent, said having multiple attractions improves a city’s odds of luring meeting planners looking to book a convention.
“Attractions and entertainment are also helpful in driving event attendance because business travelers may be more interested in making the trip, and potentially adding days before or after that blend some leisure travel with their work-related trip,” she said.
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