Tourism in Omaha, Nebraska, United States offers visitors history, sports, nature and cultural experiences. Its principal tourist attractions are the Henry Doorly Zoo and the College World Series (CWS). A 2003 study by a Creighton University economist estimated that the CWS added $33.8 million to the city's economy that year.[1] With 1.1 million visitors annually, the Henry Doorly Zoo is Nebraska's most popular tourist attraction.[2] In 2007 Omaha hosted the USA Roller Sports National Championships,[3] along with 10,000 people who auditioned for the American Idol television show at Qwest Center Omaha.[4]
Omaha is home to a variety of cultural attractions. Research shows Omaha surpasses (in cultural and performing arts per capita) neighboring Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Topeka, Tulsa and Wichita for its cultural attractions, while lagging behind Denver, Kansas City and Minneapolis, Minnesota for cultural attractions, in turn .[13]
The Toddler Farm at the Omaha Children's Museum gives children 4 and younger a place for imagination, while creative arts and dress up areas are for younger children as well. A hands-on science gallery and television studio and traveling exhibits are designed to help children discover how the world works and learn through play. The principal fine arts museum in the state of Nebraska is located in Omaha. The Joslyn Art Museum, opened in 1931, is the only museum in Nebraska with a comprehensive permanent collection that includes works from antiquity to the present day. Highlights include works by Lorenzo di Credi, El Greco, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Albert Bierstadt, and Thomas Hart Benton along with American masters Grant Wood, Jackson Pollock, Dale Chihuly and George Segal. The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts features three galleries, including studio space and housing for artists chosen from applicants all over the world.
Omaha has a thriving performing arts community that includes the Magic Theatre, a 40-year-old experimental theatre, along with Astro Theatre, which hosts the Emmy Gifford Children's Theater.[15] The Holland Performing Arts Center was built in 2005 with the overwhelming support and generosity of the Omaha community. The Holland Center specializes in events requiring a more acoustical environment, including performances by the Omaha Symphony.[16]
TD Ameritrade Park became the new home of the annual College World Series, known as the CWS in 2011. The Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium was a baseball stadium that formerly served as the home of the CWS. In the event eight out of 250 college teams from across the US have come to Omaha since 1950 to compete, bringing much of Omaha's population out to support them. In 2003 a Creighton University analysis found that 48.5 percent of CWS attendees were from outside Nebraska and that 7.4 percent were Nebraskans from outside Omaha. That year visitors to the tournament spent more than $22 million directly in the metropolitan area, generating more than $2.3 million in local and state taxes.[18] After being threatened with the loss of the event in 2007, the city recently signed an agreement to keep the event in Omaha past 2010 by building a new stadium in the city's NoDo neighborhood.[19]
Built in 2011, Werner Park is the new home to the AAA Omaha Storm Chasers baseball team. Rosenblatt Stadium was home to the minor league Omaha Royals until 2010. Across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa is the Mid-America Center, an arena and convention center.
The Omaha Civic Auditorium is a multi-purpose convention center seats up to 9,300 people for sporting events and up to 10,960 for concerts. Events at the Civic include sporting events, concerts, car and boat shows, trade shows, concerts, smaller conventions, local graduations, dog shows and craft shows. The current home to the Omaha Beef indoor football team, it also hosts the Creighton University women's basketball and volleyball teams. In 2007 the facility hosted the USA Roller Sports National Championships.[20]CenturyLink Center Omaha is an arena and convention center including an 18,300-seat arena, a 194,000 feet (59,000m)exhibition hall and 62,000 feet (19,000m) of meeting space. It hosts basketball games, hockey games and concerts, as well as the annual shareholder meeting for Berkshire Hathaway.Was torn down in late 2016.
A 1910 postcard showing the front entrance of Omaha's Burlington Station.
Founded in 1854, Omaha has a rich historical legacy present throughout the city today. Tourism has always been important to the city, with famous visitors such as Rudyard Kipling and General George Crook staying there in the city's early years.[21] The Omaha Driving Park hosted the first official performance of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1883, with eight thousand attendees.[8] In 1898 the city hosted more than 1,000,000 visitors from across the United States at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, a world's fair that lasted for more than half the year.[9]
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo is nationally renowned for its leadership in animal conservation and research. Evolving from the public Riverview Park Zoo established in 1894, today the Zoo includes several notable exhibits. They include a new "Butterfly and Insect Pavilion," Scott Aquarium, "Orangutan Forest" and "Hubbard Gorilla Valley." "Kingdoms of the Night" is the world's largest nocturnal exhibit. The Lied Jungle is the world's largest indoor rain forest, and the "Desert Dome" is the world's largest indoor desert. There is also 350-seat cafeteria style restaurant, concessions, gift shops, a tram and live steam train.[26]
Fontenelle Forest and the Neale Woods Nature Center are owned by the nonprofit Fontenelle Nature Association. Each location features miles of trails, nature exhibits, and educational activities for families and children. There are also accessible trails at Fontenelle Forest, in addition to valuable historical information.
A combination amusement park and water park called Funplex includes 12 rides, a junior roller coaster and several midway activities. The water park has a wave pool, lazy river, kiddie pool and two waterslides. Past amusement parks have included the turn-of-the-century Krug Park and the more recent Peony Park. The Amazing Pizza Machine is a national award-winning family entertainment center located in the Millard neighborhood. It was named a "Top Family Entertainment Center of the World" in 2007.[27]
Regional
Eastern Nebraska and western Iowa feature a variety of tourist destinations. Several of these attractions are located 25 miles (40km) southwest of downtown Omaha, near Interstate 80 Exit 426. The Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, a drive-through park with scenic prairies and wetlands that features dozens of native North American animals including bison, elk, cranes and new Wolf Canyon overlook along with tram rides and a visitor center.[28] Nearby, the 300,000-square-foot (28,000m2)Strategic Air and Space Museum features a glass atrium, two aircraft display hangars, a traveling exhibit area, a children's interactive gallery, a 200-seat theater, a Museum store, an aircraft restoration gallery, and a snack bar. The glass atrium encases a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Other sites in the area include Mahoney State Park and Platte River State Park, which provide a variety of options for outdoor activities, along with Schramm Park State Recreation Area. Schramm is a unique geologic and botanical area along the Platte River valley, and is home to the Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha was founded 1908 as Omaha University. The second-largest institution of higher education in Nebraska, it has a strong academic reputation. UNO is the home of the Peter Kiewit Institute a $70 million state-of-the art computer science facility and engineering facility, making it one of the premier computer science, management information systems and bioinformatics programs in the region.
The Air Force's 55th Wing, the Fightin' Fifty-Fifth, is stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. Each branch of the U. S. Military is represented among the approximately 12,000 military and federal employees assigned here.
In turn, tourism in Omaha supports local government, as one recent study found that $1,000,000 in cultural tourism specifically creates approximately $83,000 in state and local taxes as well as supporting 32 jobs for the metropolitan area, which in turn leads to additional tax revenue for government.[33]
Omaha is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 10 mi (15 km) north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 40th-most populous city, Omaha's 2020 census population was 486,051.
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Canada has a large domestic and foreign tourism industry. The second largest country in the world, Canada's incredible geographical variety is a significant tourist attractor. Much of the country's tourism is centred in the following regions: Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Vancouver/Whistler, Niagara Falls, Vancouver Island, Canadian Rockies, British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, Churchill, Manitoba and the National Capital Region of Ottawa-Gatineau. The large cities are known for their culture, diversity, as well as the many national parks and historic sites.
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is a zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Its mission is conservation, research, recreation, and education. In August 2014, TripAdvisor rated it the "world's best zoo", ahead of the San Diego Zoo and Loro Parque, based on an algorithmic assimilation of millions of reviews for 275 major zoos worldwide.
Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium was a baseball stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, the former home to the annual NCAA Division I College World Series and the minor league Omaha Royals, now known as the Omaha Storm Chasers. Rosenblatt Stadium was the largest minor league baseball stadium in the United States until its demolition.
Tourism in Sydney, Australia forms an important part of the city's economy. The city received 12 million domestic visitors and 4.1 million international visitors in year ending June 2019. The most famous attractions include the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Other attractions include the Sydney Mardi Gras, Royal Botanical Gardens, Luna Park, the beaches and Sydney Tower.
New York City received a ninth consecutive annual record of approximately 65.2 million tourists in 2018, the busiest tourist city attraction, and one of the world’s overall busiest tourist attractions, counting not just overnight visitors but anyone visiting for the day from over 50 miles away, including commuters. Overall the city welcomed 37.9 million visitors who stayed overnight in 2018, of whom 13.6 million were international. Major destinations include the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, Broadway theatre productions, Central Park, Times Square, Coney Island, the Financial District, museums, and sports stadiums. Other major visitor activities include luxury shopping along Fifth and Madison Avenues; entertainment events such as the Tribeca Film Festival; Randalls Island music festivals such as Governors Ball, Panorama and Electric Zoo; and free performances in Central Park at Summerstage and Delacorte Theater. Many New York City ethnic enclaves, such as Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Brighton Beach are major shopping destinations for first and second generation Americans.
Tourism in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan is a significant factor for the region's culture and for its economy, comprising nine percent of the area's two million jobs. About 19 million people visit Metro Detroit spending an estimated 6 billion in 2019. In 2009, this was about 15.9 million people in 2009, spending an estimated $4.8 billion. Detroit is one of the largest American cities and metropolitan regions to offer casino resort hotels. Leading multi-day events throughout Metro Detroit draw crowds of hundreds of thousands to over three million people. More than fifteen million people cross the highly traveled nexus of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel annually. Detroit is at the center of an emerging Great Lakes Megalopolis. An estimated 46 million people live within a 300-mile (480 km) radius of Metro Detroit.
The history of Omaha, Nebraska, began before the settlement of the city, with speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa staking land across the Missouri River illegally as early as the 1840s. When it was legal to claim land in Indian Country, William D. Brown was operating the Lone Tree Ferry to bring settlers from Council Bluffs to Omaha. A treaty with the Omaha Tribe allowed the creation of the Nebraska Territory, and Omaha City was founded on July 4, 1854. With early settlement came claim jumpers and squatters, and the formation of a vigilante law group called the Omaha Claim Club, which was one of many claim clubs across the Midwest. During this period many of the city's founding fathers received lots in Scriptown, which was made possible by the actions of the Omaha Claim Club. The club's violent actions were challenged successfully in a case ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, Baker v. Morton, which led to the end of the organization.
The culture of Omaha, Nebraska, has been partially defined by music and college sports, and by local cuisine and community theatre. The city has a long history of improving and expanding on its cultural offerings. In the 1920s, the Omaha Bee newspaper wrote, "The cultural future of Omaha seems as certain of greatness as the commercial future... The symphony orchestra, the Art institute, the Community Playhouse and other organizations are on firm foundations and Omaha is destined to be not only a bigger, but a better city, both financially and culturally." Reviewing Omaha's contemporary arts scene in 2007, the New York Times hailed the city as having "a kind of cultural awakening".
The economy of Omaha, Nebraska is linked to the city's status as a major commercial hub in the Midwestern United States since its founding in 1854. Dubbed the "Motor Mouth City" by The New York Times, Omaha is widely regarded as the telecommunications capital of the United States. The city's economy includes agriculture, food processing, insurance, transportation, healthcare and education. Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway has lived in Omaha all of his life, as have the ConAgra Foods, Union Pacific Railroad and Mutual of Omaha Companies, and Kiewit Corporation, all Fortune 500 corporations.
Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerline of Leavenworth Street on the south to the centerline of Chicago Street on the north, also including the CHI Health Center Omaha. Downtown sits on the Missouri River, with commanding views from the tallest skyscrapers.
Tourism in Memphis includes the points of interest in Memphis, Tennessee such as museums, fine art galleries, and parks, as well as Graceland the Beale Street entertainment district, and sporting events.
Lewis and Clark Landing is a public park located at 515 North Riverfront Drive in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The 23-acre (9.3 ha) park is situated along the eight-foot-tall river walk of the Missouri River just north of U.S. Interstate 480.
Tourism is an important industry in Metro Manila, Philippines. In 2012, the city and region welcomed 974,379 overnight visitors. As the main gateway to the Philippines' many destinations, the city is visited mainly by international tourists to the country, with a total of 3,139,756 tourists visiting in 2012. Global Blue is ranked in Manila as eleventh as its "Best Shopping Destinations" in Asia. The city is ranked tenth in MasterCard's global top 20 fastest growing cities for international visitors from 2009-2013.
Lincoln, Nebraska is the home of the state capitol of Nebraska, the University of Nebraska and has history dating back to the mid 1800s. A list of tourist attractions that can be found within the city are as follows.
The Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters is a museum and visitors' center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located in the Florence neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The museum interprets the story of the Mormon Trail along with the history of a temporary Mormon settlement known as Winter Quarters, which was located in the Florence area between 1846–1848.
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