Boston is an old city that is so rich with history, it never gets old. The spark that fueled the fight for this country's independence continues to burn today — and it shows up in our food, our drinks, and the not-so-dirty water.
Meet Boston, the newly rebranded Greater Boston Visitor’s Bureau, strives to reintroduce people to Boston by showcasing the rich cultural tapestry that makes up this city and all its neighborhoods.
"Boston is on this trajectory — on this kind of exciting momentum — highlighting what it has always been," Hilina Ajakaiye, Meet Boston's executive vice president, told GBH News host Henry Santoro. "Boston is a majority minority city. It has over 23 neighborhoods. It's also the home for culture from all over the world."
The organization wants to help visitors and locals alike learn about Black, Latino, Asian and other cultural communities all around Boston.
"If you want to experience, you know, the Asian American Pacific Islander community — we just actually celebrated a month long of very, very incredible activities with that community," Ajakaiye explained. "You know, you can walk on the Greenway and see Chinatown or see the, you know, gateway to Chinatown and all of its people and all of the culture really alive and bustling, and we love that."
She said Meet Boston thought about what the city means to visitors previously, and how Boston wanted to reintroduce itself and highlight the city beyond landmarks like Boston Common and Faneuil Hall. Part of that effort is highlighting the neighborhoods that make Boston unique.
"The neighborhoods are really the cornerstone of how people look at us," she said. "To have the city of Boston have all these incredible neighborhoods that really showcase not only experiences, but culinary, people, shops and culture."
And while Meet Boston offers lots of suggestions of things for visitors to do, even residents who have lived here for decades can find things to do and learn something new about the city.
