I took my sister to southern Utah and Arizona a few years ago and at one point she looked at me accusingly and said “You didn’t tell me that it was going to be so hot and dry here!”. No, I didn’t. I thought that the word “desert” would give you a clue.
When I was a little kid you could climb all the way to the top and look out the windows in the crown but they wouldn’t let you go up the arm to the torch anymore (that I can recall). It was pretty fun for a kid who didn’t mind walking up all of those stairs, and the ferry ride was exciting. I guess we didn’t get out much as kids.
The Statue of Liberty isn’t even close to being a tourist trap. It’s run by the National Park Service (not for commercial gain), it’s one of the most instantly recognizable works of art in the world, and it has tremendous historical significance as the first sight in America glimpsed by the huge generation of European immigrants in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries.
Not everybody who visits it will enjoy it, but it isn’t a tourist trap.
Stonehenge is a tourist trap. It is a very interesting edifice, but tourists aren’t allowed to go anywhere near it, so they only few it from a distance while sitting in their car or coach. Then you really might as well just look at a picture of it.
Everywhere is a tourist trap. Why bother going anywhere and dealing with stupid people when we can stay at home and look at pictures of everything on the internet?
Or likewise, even very worthy and culturally significant attractions that are spoiled by the throngs of tourists they trap, for instance famous museums, or particularly the galleries that exhibit the crowd-pleasing artworks like the Mona Lisa.
There should be a sociological term for the phenomenon of glamor by association. I know that for many years there was a neon Planter’s Peanuts sign in Times Square and maybe it’s still there. What makes that unusual for the rest of the country is that we don’t usually see such elaborate advertising for such humble products, and I think for some people that creates a sort of cognitive dissonance. What’s more, you nailed the type of tourist who travels 1000 miles or more but then seeks out only the familiar. They think they’re getting the true character and excitement of New York when what they’re really doing is avoiding it. Just as importantly, by sticking to TGIF’s and The Red Lobster they can then relive their week in NYC for the rest of their lives by going to the same chains locally.
Well, personally I disagree that “recognizable” and “lots of people saw it” necessarily make something tremendously significant. I didn’t mean to imply that it’s for-profit, though I seemed to recall that the ferry was privately-run (could be mistaken, of course). But I do acknowledge that I might be something of a curmudgeon who has a slightly skewed perspective of what makes things important. (Ellis Island is great, though.)
Thank you for your extremely valuable and enlightening contribution.
Actually when I went to S.F as a tourist FW was pretty uninspiring.
As to tourists remember that cities actually go out of their way to get them to visit them and while many businesses may not be involved in the trade itself those that are are paying taxes and employing people.
You dont bite it the hand that feeds you even if someone who has travelled halfway across the world doesn’t have the same indepth local knowledge as those people who stay there all the time.
Ironically, I rather liked Fisherman’s Wharf. Yes, it was a tacky tourist trap, but it was interesting nonetheless and they had an In-N-Out Burger, of which there are none in Australia.
Not necessarily. Brisbane, for example, doesn’t go out of it’s way to encourage people to visit AFAIK- basically because there’s not a lot of interest to Tourists in the city. Queensland, however, is a great place to visit and there’s lots to do in the State. Which is huge. And largely empty. But still full of interesting things to do. Most of which aren’t in Brisbane.
You’re assuming the locals want or need the tourists there in the first place. I doubt that, say, Gladstone would care if they never saw another tourist again.
Actually, from what I understand, there are special tours you can go on that allow you to walk amongst and touch the stones if you want. I’m not sure how it works, though, as I’ve only heard about it third-hand. When I went there I had to stay behind the ropes.
Say it ain’t so! One of the best experiences ever was a late night /wee hours at Tsukiji on a business trip.
I wondered where the crowds were, we left as the sun was coming up, maybe 6am and the crowds were streaming towards the place. But the main action was already over. I have recommended it many times - always with the caveat to plan to be DONE by 5:30 am.
That video doesn’t even begin to hint at the scope of the work that goes on there, and the guys on those natural gas carts are an exercise in choreography. I can’t believe those guys were jumping on the carts. Given their facility with Japanese, they were no Johnny-come-latelys.
If I may be indelicate whenI was at FW I had a sudden overwhelming urge to move my bowels and there being no observable public toilets in the vicinity I paid a visit to the Guinness hall of World records and made my own rather outstanding contribution there.
Unfortunately there weren’t two independant witnesses observing so it didn’t become an official world record but I just KNOW that England would have been proud of me.
They get themselves trapped on Mt. McKinley and have to be rescued to the tune of 10s of thousands of dollars of taxpayer duckets.
They clog up the Seward Hwy to the Kenai (150 miles south of Anchorage) with their slow moving motorhomes (for most of the road, it’s only two lanes, through mountain passes and twisty windy wilderness).
They do stupid things like hunt in April in a Tshirt and nearly die of hypothermia , or mauled by a bear, because they didn’t follow trail regs, or stuck in the mudflats (yes IN), and have to be rescued, again to the tune of 10s of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
Not exactly, because the tourists in msmith537’s example are–how shall I say it–conspicuously underspending–so it’s the opposite in that regard. The phenomenon I was referring to is that one Red Lobster in Times Square sheds luster on all the rest of the Red Lobsters around the country. “If there’s one in Times Square, New York, NY,” these people reason, “then it must be better and more sophisticated than I thought.” Which probably does a lot of good for the restaurant chain, but really not much at all for the hundreds of independents in the city, struggling to stay open. You might even say that, as their means permit, tourists have a moral obligation to support local restaurants rather than national chains. No wonder locals find some tourists objectionable.
That was my impression too. FW isn’t a place I would go just to go, but there are one or two restaurants that I think are worthwhile in their own right, which happen to be located there. I do recall seeing an oyster and champagne bar just to the left as you go in, though, and I was rather impressed by that.