"Excerpts from The Tourist" by Dean MacCannell

This writing by Dean MacCannell has made me aware at how much movies, TV & the media really plays a roll in the places we decide to vacation at, when we are choosing the cities where we would like to go. When he writes about the people who chose to visit Rome because they saw the movie with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Hepburn in it, and it was based in Rome. I know that when I think of the place I want to visit on my next vacation (Hawaii), I think of the movies that portray Hawaii as a wonderful place with white sandy beaches and clear blue water.

All of these tourist "attractions" bank on pictures, movies, ads & tv shows to bring in tourists. They charge out the nose for a plastic hula girl that shakes her hips as she sits on the dash of your car when you are back at home reminiscing about your vacation. A lot of tourist cities need this money that tourists bring in, for the majority of it is their highest source of income. You can buy mini-Eiffel towers from practically any little store in Paris, at an exorbent rate of cash.

Most of these cities don't care if you really have come to see their rare finds, but they want to make sure that you can take home a piece of something to show your friends where you went this past summer...

I will say that it is a "requirement" of being a tourist, to find something out of the ordinary. To find something that you can appreciate and take home (even if it is just a memory), to remember the trip that you have taken. That is when you will really appreciate the trip that you have taken. It will make being a tourist, worth while. Find the "Fisherman's Wharf" when it was just fisherman's wharf, in the next vacation spot you choose.