# Tourists in your city?



## Taylorhoge (Feb 5, 2006)

How do you guys feel about Tourists in your city do they annoy you? Do they help your cities economy? Where do they mainly come from? What do they visit when there in your city?


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## DarkLite (Dec 31, 2004)

ironically, (if u live there) im in vegas right now. i would say that you will only find toursits in dowtown and the strip. from there on, you won't find many. the locals here don't ineract much with tourists since las vegas is a large city. and tourists is until recently, what built las vegas. we depend on them. lol


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## Taylorhoge (Feb 5, 2006)

Yeah New York relies somewhat on tourists. For a while I used to really hate tourists becuase they didnt know how to walk or ride a train but Ive understood that they bring money into the city even when there is a population of a small city in Times Square during Christmas.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

HK is one of the most visited cities in Asia. During and before the mid 1990s, HKers were known for being one of the ruddest people on earth. Today, it is being curbed and the local are trying to be hospitalable to tourists


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## EricIsHim (Jun 16, 2003)

WANCH said:


> HK is one of the most visited cities in Asia. During and before the mid 1990s, HKers were known for being one of the ruddest people on earth. Today, it is being curbed and the local are trying to be hospitalable to tourists


Especially after the SARS crisis in 2003, toursim has make a big part in the HK economy with millions of mainland come to Hong Kong every year. It is a lot easier to travel to Hong Kong from the mainland big cities, although people are still require to obtain a permit to enter Hong Kong.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

There are mixed feelings regarding the influx of mainland tourists reaching Hong Kong. These feelings are fairly consistent with what the media in the West is portraying about the influx of Chinese tourists in those countries as well.

Facilitated individual visit schemes have definitely allowed more mainlanders to reach Hong Kong with less paperwork.


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## 612Buddha (Jan 27, 2006)

The sole reason why I do not shop at the Mall of America.


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

WANCH said:


> HK is one of the most visited cities in Asia.


Hong Kong is *the most visited place* in Asia.


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## mhays (Sep 12, 2002)

While Seattle isn't a first-tier tourist city, we do have neighborhoods that are thronged with them during the summer and to a lesser extent year round -- the Pike Place Market, the Central Waterfront, and the Seattle Center are probably the busiest, plus Pioneer Square and the Retail/Convention District to a lesser extent unless there's an event. 

I like tourists on the whole. It's flattering that they come here, and it's a good reminder that the flaws I see in Seattle don't keep it from being a pretty darn cool city. 

As for inconvenience, I've simply learned that you don't walk "through" the Market except in the street, because it takes forever to elbow through the crowds in the main walkways. Everywhere else, the sidewalks are wide enough to handle the loads with minimal inconvenience. And of course the Starbucks I sometimes go to on the way to work is not an option at the end of the day, because it's thronged, at least half with Japanese, who seem to have a cultural tendency to love corporate landmarks like the "first Starbucks". 

Every city should have enough for tourists to do that they don't hopelessly crowd each interesting spot. Seattle took another step in this direction with the new Olympic Sculpture Park this month -- a free 9-acre park that also affords great views of the city, the Sound, and of course the Olympics. And, like Safeco Field two miles away, OSP comes with its own trains running through. 

Next, the Seattle Art Museum will reopen its main museum with a big addition in May, part of the WaMu Center project. SAM's closure has been a missing piece of our "stuff to do" for at least a year already, aside from their Seattle Asian Art Museum branch on Capitol Hill, and the new OSP.


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## DiggerD21 (Apr 22, 2004)

Hamburg is the 2nd or 3rd most visited city in Germany. However, most the tourists are from Germany or other germanspeaking regions in Europe. And most of them come for the musicals, followed by sightseeing, shopping and the nightlife experience.
There are some touristy places, however you don't recognise tourists immediately. I don't have a problem with them and I also kindly explain people the way when asked.


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## Octoman (Nov 16, 2006)

London has a huge number of tourist visiting all year round, although particularly in the summer. I dont mind them personally. They are paying a complement to London by choosing to visit the city and are an important part of the economy. I have to confess though I tend to avoid the main tourist hotspots in the summer months when it can all get a bit manic.


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

Zurich is extremly touristic - especially the old town. First it was mostly English and Americans, later Japanese and today Chinese, Brazilians and a LOT of Indians. 

I don't have problems with that at all. It's anyway a multicultural and international city with 30% foreigner pop. So what  Tourists bring money and jobs! :cheers:

Tourists, that spent a night in a hotel in the city of Zurich November 2006 (quite out of season but it's the latest numbers):
Total 195 818
Swiss: 48 624 
Germans: 35 895
USA: 18 410
UK: 15 237
Other Nationalities: 74 379


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## paw25694 (Nov 21, 2006)

Bali, Indonesia has a big number of tourists visiting maybe all year.. but there are more in summer.. most of them are australian and Japanese.. even there was a bomb in bali, but the tourists are fall in love in bali, so they still visiting us every year lol! hehehe.. i dont live in bali, but i still often to go to bali.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

in terms of tourists *with overnight stays* (as opposed to daytrippers too), Kyoto is tops methinks, vying with Las Vegas with over 40-50 million. Like Vegas the vast majority are fellow nationals, not foreign tourists.


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## wafu21m (Dec 22, 2006)

in the Philippines, the most no. of tourist that visit the country are the Koreans which increases year by year, followed by the Americans. Most of the tourist go to Cebu City.


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## Inkdaub (Dec 28, 2006)

Financially, tourists bennefit any city they visit.

We don't have too many here in Portland. Most people, when planning a trip to the US NW will hit Seattle instead. Seattle also has cruise ships which Portland does not. I will say that the tourists we do get enjoy themselves.


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

I love the tourists. Growing up in Iowa, I was always very interested how people from out of town viewed my town. Of course there were hardly any visitors...

It's fun here in the summer just watching people stare up at the buildings and taking pictures. They're mostly centered downtown and along Michigan Ave though. I think I would have much less patience for them if they were spread all over the north side where I live, only because they don't really "know what's going on" and slow things down for people who live there. I start to lose my patience when they get in the way on trains, blocking the doors when they walk in, or trying to get on before people have had a chance to get off. Just little stuff you don't know how to do until you've had practice.

There were 33,000,000 visitors to Chicago in 2005, but a lot of those were people in town for business (although I guess when they're not in meetings they're ususally out doing tourist things with coworkers or hosts).

We don't get as many foreign tourists though, being somewhat isolated from the huge draws for international tourists, the large coastal and scenic areas. There were 1,008,000 international tourists in 2005.

The tourism industry here had a very positive influence on the local economy. Tourism/hospitality employee around 130,000 in the city, and contribute many millions to the local economy.

I think a large part of Chicago's visitors are from the midwest and mid-south states. There are 48,000,000 people with a 1 day drive from Chicago, so that's a lot to draw from.


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## Kevin J (Oct 4, 2003)

Another Chicago perspective. I generally view them as a positive. The one exception would be the ones who forget that they're in a big city where people who live here are trying to get from Point A to Point B. I'm talking about the gawkers, the families who feel the need to walk side by side across an entire sidewalk and not move over when you approach them from the other direction, etc. 

I'm always particularly impressed with tourists who take public trans while they're here. For the unitiated, it can be very intimidating, so I'm always willing to answer questions or even offer help to people who look lost.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

I like them, and I try to help them whenever I can. They are good for our city.


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## oz.fil (Jun 2, 2006)

Taylorhoge said:


> I used to really hate tourists becuase they didnt know how to walk


:sly: yes...

Well Melbourne gets alot of tourists i guess... most of them are all japanese/chinese/korean people and then a mix of other asians... and sometimes you'll see a few british tourists around too, but most of the poms go off to Sydney... I gotta say there are ALOT of British people in Sydney but yeah... most people in Melbourne dont mind tourists since the city is a hotpot of very different races so i guess we can all live peacefully together :lol:


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## monkeyronin (May 18, 2006)

oz.fil said:


> :sly: yes...


Well they do walk slow. And often don't know how to navigate through a crowd. 

But I don't mind tourists, it shows that people are interested in your city, and it only adds more people and as such, more vibrancy, not that the cash hurts either.. even if they are a little funny. (then again, most tourists are hard to identify, you can really only tell the obvious small town tourists really and don't know what they are doing.. which is who I've been more or less talking about this whole time)


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

the spliff fairy said:


> in terms of tourists *with overnight stays* (as opposed to daytrippers too), Kyoto is tops methinks, vying with Las Vegas with over 40-50 million.


Really? I would not have thought of these two cities, at least not Kyoto. Usually Paris is said to be the most visited city in the world, but then it's hard to find exact statistics. In Greater Paris, according to the French statistical office INSEE, there were 31,984,000 tourists in registered hotels in 2005. This figure does not include tourists who stayed in hostels, in campsites, or with friends and families. These are usually estimated to be at the very least 10 million, so that would give a total number of tourists (people who stayed overnight) between 40 and 50 million. Hard to say if it's more or less than Kyoto or Las Vegas. We'd have to see Kyoto and Las Vegas's official tourist figures first.

In 2005, according to INSEE, the three most numerous groups of tourists in Greater Paris were the British (3.2 million visitors), the Americans (2 million visitors), and surprisingly the Spaniards (1.2 million visitors). Remember that all these figures are again only for people who stayed in registered hotels, which means they are underestimates. The fastest growing group of visitors to Greater Paris in 2005 were the Chinese, who are now nearing 1 million yearly.

We don't have figures for 2006 yet, but the number of tourists has increased a lot, in particular due to the Da Vinci Code effect. The Louvre Museum registered a mammoth 8.3 million visitors in 2006, up from 7.55 million in 2005, the highest number of visitors ever, and also the highest number of visitors of any museum in the world. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC has more visitors, but they are spread across several different museums.

Since we're at it, in 2005 (not 2006) the five most visited monuments/tourist attractions in Greater Paris were:
- Notre Dame Cathedral: 13 million visitors
- Dysneyland Resort Paris: 12.3 million
- Sacré Coeur in Montmartre: 8 million
- Louvre Museum: 7.55 million
- Eiffel Tower: 6.4 million

As for Taylorhoge's question at the beginning of this thread, personally I find tourists in Paris to be very annoying. They come to Paris with lots of clichés in their head, they come with an image of romance, accordion, Moulin Rouge and whatnot. It's just a city that exists in their mind, it's not the real Paris. They completely miss the reality of 21st century Paris, a multicultural and vibrant city teaming with activity and hustle and bustle. Paris is also, well, just a city, with its inhabitants and their daily average life, going to work in the morning, picking up kids from school after work, shopping at the supermarket to prepare dinner. Paris is a city of stressed commuters rushing to the train stations after work and eager to return to their distant suburbs. Paris is a city of 600,000 university students with exams to prepare twice a year. Paris is a city of hundreds of thousands of immigrants running around the city every day to make a living. But do tourists see any of this? To me it seems most tourist are just trying to cram Notre Dame, Le Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Montmartre in two days, and then they'll return home and tell their friends how quaint is Paris with people sitting in cafés (as if most Parisians had time to sit in cafés!), accordion players, bla bla bla. It's as if they didn't see the reality in front of their eyes. Well, it's typical of tourists everywhere, isn't it?

Also, it seems tourists imagine that people in Paris are there only as actors in a massive tourist theme park. Greater Paris has almost 12 million inhabitants, and they have busy lives to care about, they are not there to cater to tourists' whims or fantasies. I remember once I was crossing one of Paris's most famous bridges to return home (I was lucky to live in the very heart of the city back then), and then as I was crossing the bridge I walked in front of a tourist who was taking a picture of his girlfriend with the Eiffel Tower in the background (I hadn't even noticed he was about to take a picture). The guy started to insult me in English in the most atrocious way, as if I was supposed to pay attention to any single tourist taking a picture 365 days a year! I'm sorry, but when you visit a place, you can't expect people to change their daily life just to accommodate tourists. I'm sure any Parisian on this forum could tell similar annoying tourist stories.

This is not to say that Parisians don't like tourists. Actually I've noticed people in the streets are increasingly nicer with foreign visitors, especially younger people, taking time out their busy lives (every Parisian seem to be busy, just look how fast they walk, lol), taking time out of their busy lives then to answer questions from foreign visitors. But in a place as visited as Paris, the locals can get pretty quickly pissed off when tourists are obnoxious, behaving as if the locals were there only to serve as tourist attraction. All it takes really is just a bit of courtesy and consideration to open up most Parisians.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

No, not many...


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## Sean in New Orleans (Apr 7, 2005)

I'm used to tourists in New Orleans. It's nice to see them back after a year hiatus because of Katrina. Most are nice and most stay in the French Quarter and Downtown, but, quite a few come Uptown and walk around our neighborhoods, because the homes here are kinda unique. They don't really bother me...I prefer no pics while I'm on my porch with the dogs in the evening, however. That is somewhat of an awkward intrusion.


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## supkof (Nov 29, 2005)

Tourists here (14 million annually) come mostly for the casinos. Some come for the Municipal Auditorium, where the Louisiana Hayride national radio show was once held and Elvis performed weekly. Still, some regional tourists come to just enjoy the city and its museums, or to spend the day on the Boardwalk.

The tourists here don't annoy me at all (except when I'm behind them going slow on the freeway in the fast lane!!) and they most certainly have a very positive impact on the area.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

wafu21m said:


> in the Philippines, the most no. of tourist that visit the country are the Koreans which increases year by year, followed by the Americans. Most of the tourist go to Cebu City.


The no. of tourists from America is questionable since alot of them are Filipinos *carrying US passports* or are American citizens. To be honest, I don't think they should count!

Anyway, in the case of HK, we get alot of tourists mainly from The Mainland, South East Asia and Europe. I don't mind seeing them in fact I've been helping some just in case they approach me and ask me some questions.


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## Snowy (Nov 6, 2006)

Brisavoine, I know what you mean about tourists in Paris. I think that many foreigners, mainly Americans, come to London thinking that a) it's going to be fairly small and b) that it is very quaint and traditional, with it's Royal family links. In reality, they get a crazy, dirty, modern city, which is more akin to New York than it is to a quaint English city such as Oxford or Cambridge.

I met an American guy and his girlfriend on the train back from central London a few months back. He had been shocked at how big London was - he really thought that they would be able to see most of the city in a day or two. I politely told him that although London is largely a low-rise city, it's still more-or-less the same size as NYC! I then spent around 10 minutes recommending various places around town.

Sometimes I wonder why tourists want to see something like the Changing of the Guard. I am a 29 year old Londoner and have never seen it. To me it seems stiff and starchy and irrelevant in this modern age, but then I suppose if I were from another country it might seem pretty special........and to be fair, if I were to visit Paris, I know that I would like to experience a little bit of the cliche'd 'romantic Paris', even though it is largely a myth. I suppose we are all hypocrites in this regard!


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## Taylorhoge (Feb 5, 2006)

New York we jus had a record of 40 million tourists and since 9/11 it has been mainly American tourists and not as many Europeans as it used to be.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Hong Kong 2006 Tourism Statistics
http://partnernet.hktb.com/pnweb/jsp/doc/HKTB_listDoc.jsp?charset=&doc_id=97018

Grand Total - 25,251,124
Mainland China - 13,591,342
Taiwan - 2,177,232
Japan - 1,311,111
USA - 1,159,025
South Korea - 718,758
Singapore - 588,474
Macau - 577,792
Australia - 563,933
UK - 516,495
Philippines - 454,036
Malaysia - 445,993
Germany - 213,837


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## mhays (Sep 12, 2002)

In heavy tourist areas like the Pike Place Market, I pay zero attention to photographers, and if there's the tiniest gap between people I barge right through. Also, there's generally more room in FRONT of gawkers than behind.


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## billyandmandy (Jun 6, 2006)

Tourists in my opinion are funny, especially in a city like Sofia ( I'm probably funny too when I visit foreign cities). It is very easy to see who's a foreigner. Lately there've been more and more tourists in the city which I find strange, because there isn't as much to see here as in other capitals but I guess it's a good thing. Maybe the city will finally become a tourist attraction. And it's nice cause you can practice your English when they aask you for directions


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## wafu21m (Dec 22, 2006)

2006 Visitor arrivals to the Philippines:
http://www.wowphilippines.com.ph/dot/statistics.asp

Korea- 572,133
USA- 567,355
Japan- 421,808
China- 133,585
Taiwan- 114,955
Australia- 101,313
Hongkong- 96,296
Singapore- 81,114
Canada- 80,507
UK- 68,490
Malaysia- 53,279
Germany- 51,402

Wow, Hongkong is really a major attractor of tourist in Asia together with Mainland China


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## SM247 (Dec 5, 2006)

My city, the Gold Coast (Australia) relies very heavily upon tourism, but so many of them are simply a pain in the arse inshops, on public transport and driving on the roads. The worst ones however are actually the domestic tourists who don't bother to read anything, as opposed to the generally well-behaved foreign visitors who often cannot read English and genuinely need assistance. We get alot of Japanese and increasingly Chinese tourism these days but we suffer from dodgy operators in the tour market, who shepherd their tour members into exclusive shops selling overpriced merch and prevent them buying genuine and cheaper stuff elsewhere.


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## Taylorhoge (Feb 5, 2006)

Tourists in New York dont understand what happens here they bring money into the city.But after two days of wondering through Times Square and taking the big red buses going to the empire state building etc,etc.They go to the UES or the UWS or to SOHO and act like they know New York most tourists like I said dont get me mad its jus the ones who think they the city becuase they look at a map for a day and then they come to me and this is one time....
Tourist who thinks he knows NYC:Which way to Manhattan?
Me: ummm your on it
Tourist:Oh okay Im sorry fellow New Yorker somtimes I forget.... which way to Times Square?
Me-Take the 6 train to 110 street
Tourist-Thanks a bunch

hahahaha


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## teh (Jun 5, 2005)

*9.7 million Tourists visit Singapore in 2006*

From Singapore Tourism Board data, the country had 9.7 million visitors in 2006. Top Ten markets are :-

1) Indonesia - 1,921,000
2) P R China - 1,037,000
3) Australia - 692,000
4) India - 659,000
5) Malaysia - 634,000
6) Japan - 594,000
7) UK - 488,000
8) South Korea - 455,000
9) USA - 400,000
10) Philipine - 386,000

The above number exclude all Malaysian Visitors that enter Singapore by land.


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## Cristovão471 (May 9, 2006)

Taylorhoge said:


> Tourists in New York dont understand what happens here they bring money into the city.But after two days of wondering through Times Square and taking the big red buses going to the empire state building etc,etc.They go to the UES or the UWS or to SOHO and act like they know New York most tourists like I said dont get me mad its jus the ones who think they the city becuase they look at a map for a day and then they come to me and this is one time....
> Tourist who thinks he knows NYC:Which way to Manhattan?
> Me: ummm your on it
> Tourist:Oh okay Im sorry fellow New Yorker somtimes I forget.... which way to Times Square?
> ...


Haha thats pretty funny.


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## teh (Jun 5, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> Hong Kong 2006 Tourism Statistics
> http://partnernet.hktb.com/pnweb/jsp/doc/HKTB_listDoc.jsp?charset=&doc_id=97018
> 
> Grand Total - 25,251,124
> ...


Wow ! Out of the 4.5 million residents in Singapore, probably about 3.3 million are Singaporeans. That means in 2006, nearly one out of every five Singaporeans visited Hong Kong. :nuts:


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

Surprised the UK numbers are so low actually. 

I don't mind seeing tourists; I see a lot of em because when I'm bored (which is just about every day) , I walk along the TST promenade from PolyU to the TST Star Ferry terminal, cuz it's a nice walk. See loads of tourists there; sometimes some ask me questions on how to get where and I'm more than glad to help; although not looking very Chinese I don't get asked TOO often!


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## Qantas743 (Nov 6, 2006)

oz.fil said:


> :sly: yes...
> 
> Well Melbourne gets alot of tourists i guess... most of them are all japanese/chinese/korean people and then a mix of other asians... and sometimes you'll see a few british tourists around too, but most of the poms go off to Sydney... I gotta say there are ALOT of British people in Sydney but yeah... most people in Melbourne dont mind tourists since the city is a hotpot of very different races so i guess we can all live peacefully together :lol:


Compared with other places in Australia, Melbourne harldy gets any tourists. It's mainly Asians that come here and the occasional British/Irish/German or American. At certain times of the year it is extremely rare to see any tourists in the city. Most people in Melbourne really love having them here and many projects have been undertaken is recent years just to cater specifically for tourists.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

SnowyBoy1 said:


> Brisavoine, I know what you mean about tourists in Paris. I think that many foreigners, mainly Americans, come to London thinking that a) it's going to be fairly small and b) that it is very quaint and traditional, with it's Royal family links. In reality, they get a crazy, dirty, modern city, which is more akin to New York than it is to a quaint English city such as Oxford or Cambridge.
> 
> I met an American guy and his girlfriend on the train back from central London a few months back. He had been shocked at how big London was - he really thought that they would be able to see most of the city in a day or two. I politely told him that although London is largely a low-rise city, it's still more-or-less the same size as NYC! I then spent around 10 minutes recommending various places around town.
> 
> Sometimes I wonder why tourists want to see something like the Changing of the Guard. I am a 29 year old Londoner and have never seen it. To me it seems stiff and starchy and irrelevant in this modern age, but then I suppose if I were from another country it might seem pretty special........and to be fair, if I were to visit Paris, I know that I would like to experience a little bit of the cliche'd 'romantic Paris', even though it is largely a myth. I suppose we are all hypocrites in this regard!



Be careful what you wish for. The more similar your city becomes to New York, the less reason for anyone to travel overseas to see it. Don't poo-poo all the old fashioned tourist attractions like the Changing of the Guard... those things that are "stiff and starchy and irrelevant" are what differentiate your country from America, and people do want to see something different when they travel. Americans don't fly overseas to see a Millenium Dome that looks like one of their domed stadiums.. they are going to see a different culture. This is the first time I have heard anyone say that the impression of London is that it is small. I don't think that is a wide spread belief.

_" London is largely a low-rise city, it's still more-or-less the same size as NYC!"_

London is smaller than NYC, and I am surprised you find it so similar. Have you ever been to NYC?


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## shaggers_jr (Apr 20, 2006)

Austaarabian: from my experience living in Sydney, including in Bondi which is, of course 50% poms, most of them are not from London at all. They're mostly from other UK regional centres, plus Scotland and Ireland. Of course many of them are, but less than half, I'd say.


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## lammius (Nov 12, 2004)

Taylorhoge said:


> Me-Take the 6 train to 110 street
> Tourist-Thanks a bunch
> 
> hahahaha


Evil. I love it.


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

gladisimo said:


> Down salisbury road? I've never walked like that before, wanna tell me your route?


Huh?

I walk towards TST East from PolyU and then take the bridge from South Seas Centre (near Intercontinental Stanford HK) that takes you to the TST promenade. Walk all the way along to TST Star Ferry...

You'll spot me if you ever see me ~ I'll have a bag on my back, be looking completely 'out of' the weather (everyone else will be wearing like 3 or 4 layers of clothes and I'll be wearin a t-shirt and shorts), listening to my iPod and drinking a can of coke. Infact, I'll look exactly like a tourist...


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## FastFerrari (Feb 7, 2007)

*We get our share*

Here in San Antonio we get a good amount of tourist. Im guessing, but could be wrong, in the range of 10-20million a year. We have alot of conventions that help bring that number up and the Riverwalk and other attractions that help. Ill have to check that number and make sure for u guys


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

Kevin J said:


> Another Chicago perspective. I generally view them as a positive. The one exception would be the ones who forget that they're in a big city where people who live here are trying to get from Point A to Point B. I'm talking about the gawkers, the families who feel the need to walk side by side across an entire sidewalk and not move over when you approach them from the other direction, etc.
> 
> I'm always particularly impressed with tourists who take public trans while they're here. For the unitiated, it can be very intimidating, so I'm always willing to answer questions or even offer help to people who look lost.


I was trying to walk from the L to the Northwest Train Station ( I work in the office portion ), and there was a huge group of high school students who obviously came in from the burbs on the train. There are literally tens of thousands of people who pour out of that station every morning, and then all of us city dwellers who are walking the opposite way to the office buildings in that area. The shitty kids all stopped in a huge group RIGHT on the damn bridge over the river. Standing there pointing and taking pictures all lined up. Of course everyone had to stop and finally pushed through them enough that they realized they were OBVIOUISLY blocking hundreds of people walking.

This is the only time they get on my nerves, it's like ....HELLOOOOO, PEOPLE ARE KINDA TRYING TO LIVE HERE. MOVE ALONG OR FIGURE IT OUT.

I did think it was funny these kids were walking around taking pictures like they were from North Dakota, when they were all from the burbs. Just goes to show how many people in the burbs never come down to the city. They all seem terrified about public transit in the city as well...


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

Taylorhoge said:


> How do you guys feel about Tourists in your city do they annoy you? Do they help your cities economy? Where do they mainly come from? What do they visit when there in your city?


NAH.. they're cool..


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## pedang (Dec 3, 2005)

*Record tourist arrivals in Malaysia in 2006*


Tourist arrivals surpassed the target of *17.5 million*

(tourists are staying) only getting an average of 6.2 days. 


Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei alone accounted for 77.22 per cent of our total tourist arrivals. 

others..

China - 439,294
Japan - 354,213
India - 279,046 
Australia - 277,125 
United Kingdom - 252,035
Philippines - 211,123 
Taiwanese -181,829
South Koreans - 189,464
West Asians - 186,821
Americans - 174,336 


This year, Tourism Malaysia is targeting an average monthly arrival of 1.675, up from 1.462 in 2006. The *total 20.1 million *tourists are expected to spend up to RM44.5 billion during their stay here.


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## BalWash (Sep 24, 2006)

FastFerrari said:


> Here in San Antonio we get a good amount of tourist. Im guessing, but could be wrong, in the range of 10-20million a year. We have alot of conventions that help bring that number up and the Riverwalk and other attractions that help. Ill have to check that number and make sure for u guys


You guys get 8 million visitors per year. Not too shabby...only 2 million behind Milan. 


Here in DC we're getting about 18 million tourists per year. I can't stand them. Half of them seem mildly retarded.


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## EricIsHim (Jun 16, 2003)

_00_deathscar said:


> ... be looking completely 'out of' the weather (everyone else will be wearing like 3 or 4 layers of clothes and I'll be wearin a t-shirt and shorts)...


Everyone looks at you weird coz' it's "cold" according to the local standard; but it is "hot" for someone just arrrives from the sub-zero region. I had had that experience before, too, it's so funny. Even my friends made fun on me about that.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

schmidt said:


> I was a tourist for the last two weeks.
> 
> But I was really AMUSED by some tourists, especially when taking pics at restaurants. Gosh, that's so ridiculous hahah. I went to have some paella in Madrid and at the restaurant there were some Koreans who were posing for pics in front of their paella dishes. As I was alone, that was my entertainment for the whole lunch.
> 
> ...


It is so true.. I was shocked how few out of country tourists I saw in Sao Paulo. I searched for a "Grayline" type bus tour of the city, but they don't exist. However, I was treated with kindness and respect throughout my time in Brasil! I highly recommend it for anyone's next vacation, and can't wait til I go back. I wish I had gone this winter instead of the Caribbean... :cheers:



shaggers_jr said:


> Austaarabian: from my experience living in Sydney, including in Bondi which is, of course 50% poms, most of them are not from London at all. They're mostly from other UK regional centres, plus Scotland and Ireland. Of course many of them are, but less than half, I'd say.


Wow, I am surprised there are so many British tourists. That is such a long way to go for a beach holiday. I guess the Pound is very high.


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## FastFerrari (Feb 7, 2007)

*update on facts*

Ok so i checked out stats for San Antonio's tourism....I found 2004 and the latest year available.....and the number(drums pleassseeee) 21 million! ! !
Yup Yup.....ok so 9 million where one night stayers....so its in the neighborhood of 12 million give or take.


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## gladisimo (Dec 11, 2006)

FastFerrari said:


> Ok so i checked out stats for San Antonio's tourism....I found 2004 and the latest year available.....and the number(drums pleassseeee) 21 million! ! !
> Yup Yup.....ok so 9 million where one night stayers....so its in the neighborhood of 12 million give or take.


US tourist figures are always skewed cuz its such a huge country, I would be more interested to see a break down of international and domestic tourists to see how much international attention it gets. Nevertheless, it sounds like an impression number, I wonder how it compares to other cities



_00_deathscar said:


> Huh?
> 
> I walk towards TST East from PolyU and then take the bridge from South Seas Centre (near Intercontinental Stanford HK) that takes you to the TST promenade. Walk all the way along to TST Star Ferry...
> 
> You'll spot me if you ever see me ~ I'll have a bag on my back, be looking completely 'out of' the weather (everyone else will be wearing like 3 or 4 layers of clothes and I'll be wearin a t-shirt and shorts), listening to my iPod and drinking a can of coke. Infact, I'll look exactly like a tourist...


haha, that sounds like me, winters away from Hong Kong and my love for the rain makes me look so out of place with the people there. I'm not in HK often (once per year or so), and whenever I'm around Hung Hom/ East TST I'm always in a bus, so I have no idea what you're talking about.

The only thing I know around that area is that there's a bridge coming over from Hung Hom KCR and past that is the science museum, etc, and head towards TST ( I think the road is Chatham Road ), so I thought you might be walking down Salisbury Road instead.


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## Yardmaster (Jun 1, 2004)

FastFerrari said:


> Ok so i checked out stats for San Antonio's tourism....I found 2004 and the latest year available.....and the number(drums pleassseeee) 21 million! ! !
> Yup Yup.....ok so 9 million where one night stayers....so its in the neighborhood of 12 million give or take.


And most of them were from the US ?


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

It is impossible to compare "international" tourism in Europe to North America. Take Canada and the USA for example... a MASSIVE landmass, but technically only two nations. So, a tourist who travels from New York City to Los Angeles is not an international tourist. Europe is filled with smaller countries, so people can travel relatively small distances to nearby neighbouring areas and they instantly become an "international" traveler. So, the term is practically meaningless when taken out of context. A tourist is a tourist. 
I am guessing, but I would imagine that only a small percentage of tourists in Australia are "international" because of the relative isolation factor.


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## ckm (Apr 7, 2006)

I love tourists! 

When you cross them in the metro in your iPod, your cell phone or your newspaper or when you walk with the supermarket bags (I mean, when it's obvious that you live there, and I live in a quite touristic area in Paris) you can see in their face "Oh, they are so lucky, they live in Paris and we are leaving in 2 days". ^^ ^^ 

Anyway I agree with Brisavone, most people have a wrong idea about living in Paris or London or New York, but I think many Parisians really love to be part of that decoration.


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## gladisimo (Dec 11, 2006)

Taller said:


> It is impossible to compare "international" tourism in Europe to North America. Take Canada and the USA for example... a MASSIVE landmass, but technically only two nations. So, a tourist who travels from New York City to Los Angeles is not an international tourist. Europe is filled with smaller countries, so people can travel relatively small distances to nearby neighbouring areas and they instantly become an "international" traveler. So, the term is practically meaningless when taken out of context. A tourist is a tourist.
> I am guessing, but I would imagine that only a small percentage of tourists in Australia are "international" because of the relative isolation factor.


Totally agree. The thing is, and I might get a lot of flame for saying this, I know there exists a massive culture difference between different states, but I dont think the extent of that difference is as great as, say, that of Europe. 

So, its true that a tourist is a tourist, but the fact that America is a country limits, to certain extent, the amount of cosmopolitanism that some countries in, say Europe would experience.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

gladisimo said:


> Totally agree. The thing is, and I might get a lot of flame for saying this, I know there exists a massive culture difference between different states, but I dont think the extent of that difference is as great as, say, that of Europe.
> 
> So, its true that a tourist is a tourist, but the fact that America is a country limits, to certain extent, the amount of cosmopolitanism that some countries in, say Europe would experience.



I wasn't making a value judgement on the quality of tourists, or the cosmopolitanism of the destinations. I was just saying in this case "statistics" are very misleading.


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## soup or man (Nov 17, 2004)

Aside from their horrible taste in fasion, tourism in LA doesn't affect me any. I'm abrasive and cold myself which is the reason I love Russian tourists. Lol.

But seriously..tourism doesn't bother me.


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## PedroGabriel (Feb 5, 2007)

tourists are very common around here all year around, people like tourists and cultural interchange, but tourists must keep in mind that they should be the ones who should start a conversation.

in Porto, most people in the streets at night are tourists, they come mostly from Spain and Britain, but also from the Netherlands, Germany and Nordic countries. they are mostly couples or groups of boys and girls, or just boys and girls.

*Porto Area*
In *Porto itself*, most people visit:

All downtown (there's so much to see)
Ribeira - river district
Avenida dos Aliados - a big plaza (city centre)
Santa Catarina street - traditional shopping district
Foz - beach district
Clérigos
Leões
king Luis Bridge
Port wine lodges
City Park
Boavista

Out of Porto proper, in my area (due to metro trains, both tourists areas are linked, and tourists often use the metro to visit both areas)

*Vila do Conde*
in there, most tourist are French or Northern European of various places
and prefer to visit:

Santa Clara - monastery area with plenty to see.
Old town of Vila do Conde - which is a small stretch of historical houses and buildings from the discovery age.
it is gaining international tourism of quality.

my city, *Póvoa de Varzim*

it is a famous and traditional beach area in the North of Portugal, so it suffered a bit during the 1970s and 1980s, the city is now recovering. That's because the city has a very big beach.
In here, most tourists are French, Spanish, Brazilians in search of their roots, English and Austrians. 
People like to visit the Casino, especially the Chinese. it is a classical 1930's European-style casino. 
Junqueira - traditional shopping district
Passeio Alegre - beach/night-life district
Praça do Almada - a nice historical square (city centre)
São Félix Hill 
:master: Cividade de Terroso (we lost many things, but we keep our most ancient district! it is almost 3000 yrs old!) Our ancestors lived their lives there.
Our local museum and Matriz (historic district)
people also like to visit the seaport area, because the city is known for that and the view over the city
beaches are also very popular
Golf, it has a nice golf course.


etc.


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## gladisimo (Dec 11, 2006)

Taller said:


> I wasn't making a value judgement on the quality of tourists, or the cosmopolitanism of the destinations. I was just saying in this case "statistics" are very misleading.


Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that being domestic or not affects the quality of the toursits, but rather simply the cosmopolitanism, and again, you're right, statistics is, in this case, not the most useful of indicators simply because it is impossible to compare domestic tourism in the USA vs. domestic tourism in Luxembourg.


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## Calvin W (Nov 5, 2005)

I have noticed here in Perth WA lots of Asian tourists. One thing I have had fun doing is meeting tourists from around the world down here. In 2 months time I have meet 20 or so different nationalities many having travelled half way around the world to get here.


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