Well known for its casinos, hotel, bars and restaurants Atlantic City has plans to upgrade other aspects of the town which includes new residential and commercial developments but more importantly for some people, the plan means that the arts district and educational and medical facilities are going to get a make-over as well.

It goes without saying that the gambling and tourist areas will get a revamp and the project manager of The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, Jeremy Sunkett, announced that the whole concept of this revitalization program is to bring greater numbers of the public to smaller areas with a view to generating a greater demand for services such as restaurants, shops, businesses in general and much more.

The idea is to create districts where the public will be able to walk, instead of driving, to the places that they want or need to get to, thus opening up business opportunities for retailers as well as serving the people who come to Atlantic City more efficiently.

With the downturn in the world’s economy, Atlantic City is suffering like so many other competitors in neighboring states and although it is the second largest gambling destination, it needs to do something about the situation in order to turn the tide. This revitalization program is considered to be one of the best opportunities of doing just this.

Atlantic City needs to retain a ‘well good’ feeling for its residents and needs to improve the living and working conditions in the city. The new program should do this with the added bonus of attracting more visitors to the area by making them feel more welcome and comfortable during their stay.

Back in 1997 a new state of the art convention center was built in Atlantic City at a cost of $268 million, this alone has generated close to 290 conventions, trade and public exhibitions and to date this figure has been on the increase. The old Boardwalk Convention Hall still remains the yearly venue for the Miss America Pageant as well as being the perfect place for other special events such as concerts which has attracted many visitors to Atlantic City.

It is hoped that the 37 million visitors that descend on Atlantic City every year will increase considerably. The point is that of this vast number of tourists, 30 million of them visit the City as day trippers only. The CRDA plans to increase the number of overnight facilities available by improving amenities and building more hotels for people to stay at. The longer a tourist stays would, of course mean that they would automatically spend more money in the city.

In the past the majority of visitors to Atlantic City arrive by car, a large number by coach but very few tourists get to Atlantic City by air. Over recent years this has been changing. The whole point of the revitalization it would seem is to reinvent Atlantic City one more time in the hope that Atlantic City can offer the tourist a better experience than they would get in any of the neighboring states where gambling features as their main attraction.