TOURIST ATTRACTION

A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists, foreign and domestic, normally visit. Some examples include famous historical places, monuments, zoos, museums and art galleries, botanical gardens, buildings and structures (e.g., castles, libraries, former prisons, skyscrapers, bridges), national parks and forests, theme parks and carnivals, ethnic enclave communities, historic trains, cultural events and rare oddities.

Tourist attractions are also created to capitalise on unusual and unexplained, even perhaps sensational, phenomena such as a supposed UFO crash site near Roswell, New Mexico and the alleged Loch Ness monster sighting near Inverness, Scotland. Reported ghost sightings in historic establishments also make tourist attractions.

Local ethnic community leaders may attempt to promote ethnic communities as tourist attractions as well to increase revenue and cultural venues, such as various Chinatowns all over the world, the Vietnamese community of Little Saigon in southern California in the United States and the black British neighborhood of Brixton borough of London. However, such tourist attractions tend to focus on the superficial aspects of diverse cultures. Furthermore, they may rely heavily on cultural stereotypes.

Owners and marketers of attractions usually advertise tourist attractions on billboards along the side of highways and roadways, especially in remote areas. Also, many tourist attractions have free promotional brochures and flyers in information centres, fast food restaurants, hotel and motel rooms or lobbies, and rest areas.

While some tourist attractions provide visitors a memorable experience for a reasonable admission charge or even for free, others can have a tendency to be of low quality and to overprice their goods and services (such as admission, food, and souvenirs) in order to profit from tourists excessively. Such places are commonly known as tourist traps.

Many tourist attractions have a higher concentration of hotels and motels located nearby.

Popular Tourist Attractions

Buildings and Structures

• Big Ben – London, United Kingdom
• Brandenburg Gate – Berlin, Germany
• CN Tower – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Eiffel Tower – Paris, France
• Empire State Building – New York City, New York, USA
• Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, California, USA
• Great Wall of China – China
• Leaning Tower of Pisa – Pisa, Italy
• Great Pyramids – Cairo, Egypt
• Colosseum – Rome, Italy
• Sydney Opera House – Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
• Machu Picchu – Cusco, Peru
• Taj Mahal – Agra, India

Ethnic Communities

• Pennsylvania Dutch country (Amish) - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
• Solvang, California (Danish-themed town)
• Chinatown – Various locations, with San Francisco and Vancouver Chinatowns being some of the larger and popular ones in North America.
• Little India – Manchester
• List of popular tourist regions

Theme parks

• Cedar Point – Sandusky, Ohio, USA
• Disneyland
  • Anaheim, California, USA
  • Paris, France
  • Tokyo, Japan
• Walt Disney World Resort – Orlando, Florida, USA
• Dreamworld – Gold Coast, Australia
• Hersheypark – Hershey, Pennsylvania
• Knoebels – Elysburg, Pennsylvania, USA
• Knott's Berry Farm – Buena Park, California, USA
• Six Flags La Ronde – Montreal, Canada
• SeaWorld –
  • Orlando, Florida, USA
  • San Antonio, Texas, USA
• Universal Studios –
  • Orlando, Florida, USA
  • Osaka, Japan
• Kennywood Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

National Parks

• Kenting National Park – Pingtung, Taiwan
• Grand Canyon – Arizona, USA
• Taroko National Park – Hualien, Taiwan
• Yellowstone National Park – Montana, Wyoming, USA
• Yosemite National Park – California, USA
• Niagara Falls – Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario
• Galapagos Islands – Ecuador
• Manú National Park – Madre de Dios, Peru

Museums

• British Museum – London, UK
• Louvre – Paris, France
• National Palace Museum &– Taipei, Taiwan
• Ripley's Believe It or Not (wax museum) – various locations
• Smithsonian Institution – Washington, DC
• Royal Ontario Museum – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Madame Tussauds (wax museum), located world wide.

Gardens

• Butchart Gardens – Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Huntington Gardens – San Marino, California, USA
• Magnolia Gardens – Charleston, South Carolina, USA
• Sarasota Jungle Gardens – Sarasota, Florida USA

Streets

• Las Vegas Strip – Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
• Lombard Street - San Francisco, California, USA
• Rodeo Drive – Beverly Hills, California, USA
• Orchard Road – Singapore, Singapore
• Yonge Street – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Broadway – New York, New York
• Times Square – New York, New York
• Wall Street – New York, New York
• Chapel Street – Melbourne, Australia

Beaches

• Sentosa - Singapore
• Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

See also

• List of popular tourist regions