# Can someplace be a tourist trap if you don't pay money to see it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 25, 2023, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768 "2023-01-25T06:50:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/41 "2023-01-26T22:51:35Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > I’m in New England and there are a bunch of examples here. Rockport, Mass. immediately came to mind. The downtown is all gift shops and galleries. You can get some good seafood there, however (except after 8 p.m. when they roll up the sidewalks). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/42 "2023-01-26T23:34:00Z")
> [@Frosted\_Glass](#): > > It’s a major thoroughfare but I think that helps lend to its tourist trap nature. If Times Square was located where South Street Seaport is, would it still get a pass? If it were down there, I think it would be 95% tourist trap. South Street Seaport qualifies, I think. Another example kind of like Times Square. When we lived in Princeton in 1980 - 1982 Palmer Square was full of locally owned businesses. It expanded and got chains, and I consider it far more a tourist trap now than it was then. We went back a few years ago, and my wife had the idea that living in Princeton again would be fun. The place was full of tourist buses, so no thanks. But perhaps the chain stores are an indicator of tourist trap status, not the cause. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/43 "2023-01-27T13:47:49Z")
> [@Frosted\_Glass](#): > > The first place that popped into my head was Times Square. I consider Times Square to be a massive tourist trap but you don’t have to pay any money to visit or pass through. I was thinking the same thing. In fact, Times Square serves no useful purpose other than to BE a tourist trap. It’s literally just billboards and Elmos and stores hocking I ❤ NY shirts and other trinkets. Yes, there are worthwhile destinations nearby (like Broadway theatres and Restaurant Row in Hells Kitchen), but Times Square itself is just there to attract tourists to Times Square. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/44 "2023-01-27T13:54:16Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > > [@WildaBeast](#): > > > > Venice, Italy might be the biggest example of this. I’ve never been there > > I have. It’s true that it has no meaningful industry or other economy beyond being a travel destination. However, I would not describe it as a tourist trap, because it’s not just street after street of shops selling refrigerator magnets and snack food and baseball hats with cartoon logos. It’s better thought of as a enormous, city-sized open-air museum, a preservation of the historical destination itself, with a few small concentrated pockets of tourist-specific activity (the Rialto Bridge, for example, and about a block at each of its ends). Escape these, and you can spend hours wandering along the canal views or through twisting alleyways that feel almost exactly the same as they did two hundred years ago. > > It’s decaying and showing its age, but it’s still a unique and magical place, and I’d go there again tomorrow if I could. I’ve also been to Venice and I would agree. More like a large historic district than a tourist trap. Similar maybe to Mystic CT. Yes, a lot of tourists go there and it has its fair share of gift shops and touristy restaurants (how many people would give a crap about Mystic Pizza the movie or restaurant if both didn’t exist?). But also a lot of museums and decent eateries. Roman Coliseum and The Vatican, kind of tourist-trappy. Still worth seeing IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/45 "2023-01-27T14:14:01Z")
I always thought of tourist traps as a one-off destination run by a single operator, not a neighborhood or city, with the possible exception of some ghost towns and wild west type attractions. They entice you with some fanciful attraction, billboards, etc., and when you get there it’s a lame shadow of what you thought it would be, and everything is just geared towards parting you from your money. The one that comes to my mind is [South of the Border](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_of_the_Border_(attraction)). It’s a rest area, truck stop, and restaurant with mini golf, go-carts, and even a small amusement park. Much more involved than the world’s largest ball of mud or whatever, but still a seedy venue with questionable faux-Mexican theming. There’s also billboards hyping it up and down every highway for miles in all directions. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/46 "2023-01-27T16:28:59Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Another example kind of like Times Square. When we lived in Princeton in 1980 - 1982 Palmer Square was full of locally owned businesses. It expanded and got chains, and I consider it far more a tourist trap now than it was then. We went back a few years ago, and my wife had the idea that living in Princeton again would be fun. The place was full of tourist buses, so no thanks. But perhaps the chain stores are an indicator of tourist trap status, not the cause. This is a good (and disappointing) example. My mom loved taking us to Princeton for lazy weekend shopping trips. I remember lots of cool shops, good food, and taking naps in the park. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/47 "2023-01-27T17:35:47Z")
In a very 1970s book of humor cartoons about Oregon, there’s one that probably applies to many beach towns: “Want to get away from seedy tourist traps and tacky souvenir stands? Come to Seaside!” “Anywhere you go from here will be away from seedy tourist traps and tacky souvenir stands.” ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/48 "2023-01-27T19:39:03Z")
We were in ABQ, NM & thought about going to Roswell as we had all day; realized it was 3 hrs…_.each way_ to look at what was most likely a barbed wire fence with signs that said “US Government Property - NO Trespassing” & what I’m sure were a bunch of t-shirt shops in town selling all sorts of alien tchotchkes. It’s not like I was expecting the MP would stop me & say, “You’re the 10/50/100 millionth visitor, we’re gonna let you in to see 'em…but only if you promise to keep it a secret.” I’m not exactly sure because it wasn’t worth 7 hours of my life (including walking around time) to find out for certain. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/49 "2023-01-28T01:27:03Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Parts of Fisherman’s Wharf are definitely tourist traps, but it **is** a working wharf with all that entails. Are the walruses still there? That was interesting to see them so close. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/50 "2023-01-28T03:53:56Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > what I’m sure were a bunch of t-shirt shops in town selling all sorts of alien tchotchkes. We made the drive, and it’s exactly what you think. The most interesting part of the drive was going through Lincoln county, of billy the kid days. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/51 "2023-01-28T05:51:43Z")
Well if Billy the Joel is accurate in his ballads, I’ve been to the Kid’s beginning I lived in the town of Oyster Bay but only visited the hamlet of Oyster Bay& the village of Oyster Bay Cove (many times) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/52 "2023-01-28T17:29:36Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Are the walruses still there? That was interesting to see them so close. Walruses? No. Sea lions? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/53 "2023-01-28T17:35:44Z")
Ha, whatever they were! But thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/54 "2023-01-28T18:09:58Z")
I think a tourist trap is a place _where people deliberately_ try to sell people chintzy, generic, and/or unauthentic things. The price doesn’t matter, and the original intent of the place doesn’t matter, either. However, if you’re a place that attracts tourists, it doesn’t matter how kitsch you are if you are not trying to sell them crap. For instance, although it ticks off most of the boxes, I would almost not count the Abbey Road crossing as a tourist trap since the vast majority of people are just there to take pictures. But when I went, to _look_ at the people taking pictures, there was some hawker handing out pamphlets to what I assume was a cheap souvenir shop. I’m still on the fence as to the tourist-trapness of Abbey Road, because you couldn’t see the shop from the crossing and it was otherwise not money-oriented. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/55 "2023-01-28T19:48:41Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Walruses? No. Sea lions? Yes. No carpenters either. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/56 "2023-01-31T18:52:18Z")
South of the Border was exactly what I thought of too, that is what I would call a gaudy tourist trap but you pay nothing to get in. Now granted it may be difficult to leave without buying a drink or silly souvenir of some sort, but you could just stop and look and use the bathroom and get back on I-95. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/57 "2023-01-31T23:25:27Z")
At least in the 00s when I went to Roswell they had a really nice UFO museum in town that was both about the Roswell incident as well as UFOs in general. It was worth the hour or so I spent in the museum. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/58 "2023-02-01T04:33:26Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > you could just stop and look and use the bathroom and get back on I-95. That’s what we did, just needed to pee, didn’t need gas yet. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/59 "2023-02-01T22:55:15Z")
Strictly speaking, parts of Route 1 in southeast Maine continue being a tourist trap even when I’m not there to see it.\* \*including that place boasting “10,000 souvenirs”. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someplace-be-a-tourist-trap-if-you-dont-pay-money-to-see-it/978768/60 "2023-02-02T13:39:33Z")
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