America's Cultural Tourism Capitals
Lauren Sherman, 08.20.09, 06:00 PM EDT

These cities draw in plenty of tourists, keeping them busy with arts, events
and unique activities.

In Depth: America's Cultural Tourism Capitals

Paris, London and Rome aren't the only spots for tourism with a touch of
culture. Even though we're a couple millennia behind Europe on history,
America's major cities still manage to offer enough sophistication, style and
arts to go around.

And while there's no shortage of such sights or activities in places like New
York or Chicago, they're also plentiful in places one wouldn't normally think
to look.

Consider Dallas. While it might be better known for big business, 10-gallon
hats and football, it's also the center of the North Texas arts scene; the
city's Cedars District serves as a home to many emerging artists.

In Depth: America's Cultural Tourism Capitals

What's more, visitors can enjoy traditional cultural activities at venues
like the Dallas Museum of Art, the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and the
Nasher Sculpture Center. Dallas welcomed 18 million overnight visitors in
2008, and its 205 cultural institutions helped to keep them occupied.

Behind the Numbers

To determine America's top cities for cultural tourism, we measured the
number of 2008 overnight visitors to each of the 40 largest metropolitan
statistical areas in the country, factoring in the number of cultural
institutions--including museums, sports teams, and live theater and concert
venues--according to New York-based AOL City Guide, an online database of
local businesses, restaurants, cultural institutions and bars. Visitor
numbers for 2008 were reported by each metro area's convention and visitors
bureau. A metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographic entity defined
by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in
collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics.

It would have been helpful to have a list of the top ten cities included in
the lead article itself rather than as a series of hyperlink profiles. There
aren't a lot surprises in this top ten list--....

New York's ranking as America's foremost metro for cultural tourism is no
surprise, considering its bevy of arts institutes, such as the New Museum of
Contemporary Art on the Bowery downtown, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in
Midtown and world renowned galleries like Phillips de Pury & Co. in Chelsea.

"No other city in the U.S. is as prominent in dance, film, music, theater and
visual arts," says John Clifford, president of International Travel
Management, a San Diego, Calif.-based luxury travel consultancy.

Los Angeles' second-place finish, however, is a bit more surprising (cultural
capitals Chicago, Boston and Atlanta rounded out the top five).

The City of Angels, which also ranked high on our list of the World's Most
Stylish Cities, not only boasts a rich architectural history (with homes and
buildings created by mid-century modernist master Joseph Eichler and
contemporary architect Richard Meier), it's also home to 524 cultural
institutions. Galleries, theater and music venues are abundant, not to
mention museums such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum
of Contemporary Art.

Arguably the most famous of Los Angeles' culture spots is the J. Paul Getty
museum, which includes the Meier-designed Getty Center in Brentwood, home to
pre-20th century European paintings and drawings as well as 19th and 20th
century American and European photographs. There's also the Getty Villa, an
educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures
of ancient Greece, Rome and Etruria in the Pacific Palisades.

Midwest is Best

Another cultural center worth visiting is Minneapolis, perhaps better known
for its chilly weather than its arts scene. Yet this snowy metro's excellent
public radio station hosts famous shows like A Prairie Home Companion. Other
cultural institutions include the Guthrie Theater, Walker Art Center and Mill
City Museum.

San Francisco, surprisingly, merely edged into the top 10 despite being, as
Clifford puts it, the New York of the West.

"In its own quirky and often rebellious way, it has influenced other cities,"
he says of the area's strong ties to the counterculture. Museums like the de
Young--which has exhibited everything from a retrospective of designer Yves
Saint Laurent's work to a collection featuring 130 works from the tomb of
Tutankhamun--and music venues like the Fillmore, which hosts band like the
Doobie Brothers and Alice in Chains, keep the area buzzing.

The differences between the cultural offerings in places like San Francisco
and Minneapolis, in fact, underscore the point that no matter where one goes
in the U.S., there are distinctive arts communities and cultural attractions
to be appreciated.

1. New York, N.Y.
2. Los Angeles, Calif.
3. Chicago, Ill.
4. Boston, Mass.
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Atlanta, Ga.
7. Dallas, Texas
8. Houston, Texas
9. Minneapolis, Minn.
10. San Francisco, Calif.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/20/america-culture-capitals-lifestyle-travel-arts.html