Tourist attraction

A tourist attraction is a place where tourists, foreign and domestic, normally visit. Some examples include famous historical places, 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 communities, cultural events and rare oddities.

Tourist attractions are also created to capitalize on unusual and unexplained, even perhaps sensational, phenomena such as a UFO crash site near Roswell, New Mexico and the alleged Loch Ness monster sighting near Inverness, Scotland.

Tourist attractions tend to overprice their goods and services (such as admission, food, and souvenirs) in order to exploit and profit from gullible tourists. For example, prices for a roll of film at tourist attractions are higher than at a regular store. In addition, many, if not all, restaurants and cafés located in popular tourist areas tend to automatically add a high service charge (i.e., gratuities) onto the bill. Hence, these places are commonly known as tourist traps.

Popular tourist attractions

• Buildings and Structures
  • CN Tower - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Eiffel Tower - Paris, France
  • Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco, California, USA
  • Great Wall of China - China
  • Space Needle - Seattle, Washington, USA

• Ethnic Communities
  • Chinatown - Various, with San Francisco and Vancouver Chinatowns being some of the larger ones in North America.
  • Lancaster County - Pennsylvania Dutch country

• Theme parks
  • Disneyland - Anaheim, California, USA
  • Disney World and Epcot Center - Orlando, Florida, USA

• National Parks
  • Grand Canyon - Arizona, USA
  • Yellowstone National Park - Montana, Wyoming
  • Yosemite National Park - California, USA

See also: List of popular tourist regions