Tourism

Now that you have a mass transit system running, why not put it to the test?

Anyway, after all that work, it’s time to have some fun—the Sims will surely appreciate more entertainment options. Build a casino, stadium, or landmark and watch as tourists rush into your city, eager to spend their money at local attractions and shops. As more and more tourists flood into the city, prepare for an increase in congestion along the highway and at regional transportation hubs.

If you’re relying on casinos to draw in tourists, be ready to counter a rise in crime too. But as long as you address traffic and crime problems before they get out of hand, you’ll be well on your way to nurturing a successful tourist industry. Now, where did I put my camera?

Tourist Flow

To better understand how tourism works, study the accompanying diagram illustrating how tourists flow in and out of your city. Every city has an attraction rating for each wealth class. This rating is based on commercial buildings, parks, and certain buildings such as casinos, stadiums, and landmarks.

The higher the attraction rating, the more tourists. Not every tourist that wants to visit your city can make it there, so you need to provide sufficient transportation infrastructure to get them into your city. This is why mass transit is so important.

Low wealth tourists enter your city by train, bus, car, or taxi. Medium wealth tourists arrive the same way, but also have the option of taking a cruise ship. High wealth tourists only arrive by cruise ship or plane.

Once in your city, tourists will look for places to spend their money. At first, low and medium wealth tourists are the most common. But as you upgrade attractions, you may lure some high wealth tourists as well. Each day a tourist attempts to spend money at shops or buildings catering to their class.

Low wealth tourists will seek out low wealth establishments to spend their money while medium and high wealth tourists look for class-appropriate establishments to spend their Simoleons. This is why it’s important to provide a wide mix of shops and attractions in your tourist districts, so there’s something for everyone.

Tourists from region

Casinos are a great way to lure tourists into your city. Just be ready to deal with an increase in crime.

After successfully spending money at a shop or other attraction, tourists look for a hotel to rest. Like shops, tourists will only stay at a hotel serving their class. If you have casinos in your city, you can attach hotel room modules, each catering to a different class of tourist. Hotels will also spring up in commercial zones near attractions.

Use parks to adjust the land value to encourage the appearance of medium and high wealth hotels. If there are no hotels or no vacancies at hotels, the tourists will leave your city, with Simoleons still jingling in their pockets, so provide as many hotels as necessary to keep tourists in your city as long as possible.

The goal is to keep tourists in your city until they’ve depleted all their money, at which point they will leave choosing from class-appropriate transportation options.