東區學英語 | 菁英東區旅遊指南  CNNGO網站票選全球12令人失望景點

World's 12 worst tourist traps

We’ve all experienced tourst traps. Those heavily advertised attractions that turn out to be bland misrepresentations of the places we’re supposed to be seeing.

Expensive time eaters that leave us with lighter wallets and a taste of burnt coffee in our mouths.

So which are the world’s worst tourist traps?

For starters, in no particular order, try the devil's dozen below. Then add your  "favorite" tourist traps in the comments section.

Have your say! Which are the world's worst tourist traps?

This admittedly pretty series of waterfalls in a lush forest has been transformed into a death march for millions of cruise shippers on shore leave.

Visitors slog up a crowded, hillside holding hands with strangers like worker ants on a particularly gruesome mission.

Aggressive guides hustling for tips complete the tourist trap experience.

Better to get ripped off on straw baskets in the Kingston markets.

Built in 2004, this one is designed with mainland Chinese tourists in mind. You’ll find them here in droves, led by flag-toting tour guides as they stumble toward the promenade’s highlight, a statue of Bruce Lee in kung fu pose, while mall music blurps out from tiny speakers.

A lack of comfortable resting areas and focus on souvenir photo booths makes the whole experience about as satisfying as a sneeze that doesn't quite come out.

A big TV, a bunch of outdoor advertising and chain stores you can find anywhere in the United States.

Locals avoid it with almost the same assiduity as empty cabs do, meaning once you're in, there's no quick escape. 

It bills itself as the “best shopping street in China,” but in reality it's far from that.

Nanjing Dong Lu, whose history can be traced back 150 years ago, was once known as the “Number One Commercial Street in China.” Most guidebooks recommend tourists check it out for its history.

But apart from a handful of old shops, any sense of history is largely gone.

Locals are a rare sight. Ubiquitous brands that can be found on any major shopping street in Shanghai, however, are all too common.

The heavily advertised Britain at War Experience draws thousands to experience wartime London. There are a few decent artifacts, but mostly what visitors get are amateur tableaus featuring department store mannequin limbs slathered with fake blood meant to represent Blitz carnage.

A shame so many get lured in, since authentic sites pertaining to WWII -- Churchill’s actual bunker and RAF Uxbridge’s magnificently restored Battle of Britain Operations Room at RAF Northolt -- are nearby.

 


There are at least a dozen floating markets in and around Bangkok. Yet every tourist wants to hit the same one: Damnoen Saduak.

It used to be a legitimate place for locals to enjoy some boat noodles or shop for produce and knickknacks. Today, thanks to every tour company in the world pushing it on tourists, it's about as authentic as that pack of Viagra for sale in a back soi on Sukhumvit Road.

There are even manufactured floating markets, such as the one at Ancient Siam, that are more realistic than this nightmarish network of canals that’s filled with long tail boats shuttling visitors around to check out the floating shops and boats that peddle the same junk you can find on Khao San Road.

And be ready to duck. Things can get dangerous when boat drivers raise their long boat propellers out of the water to navigate through canal traffic jams.

A heap of concrete, steel, traffic and trains. Lots of in-your-face advertising. And the Tokyo Tower centerpiece is an ugly, unoriginal, high-rise time eater.

You can also forget about its much-ballyhooed usurper, the Sky Tree in Sumida-ku. That concrete and steel raised middle finger is just another glitter-daubed, expensive shopping mall in the sky.

Still, if it remains on your agenda, parts of the capital are worth seeking out -- just as long as you avoid "Tokyo" proper and concentrate on smaller game, like the beautiful, bohemian suburbs of Kichijoji, Ogikubo and Asagaya.

Or, there’s the superb countryside of Yamanashi, just an hour from Shinjuku by train -- food for the soul aplenty out west; just keep your wits about you and steer clear of the concrete jungle that entangles Tokyo’s barely beating heart. 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa may have an interesting history, but as a tourist attraction, there isn't much to say about it. Apart from the fact that it actually leans.

After the initial wonderment over how such bad architecture has managed to last so long, there’s nothing much left to do apart from climbing the tower. But that’s not before you stand in a long line of tourists willing to part with 15 euros for the opportunity to climb 300 dizzying spiral steps within a specified time slot.

Or you can avoid all that and just observe giddy visitors pretend to "hold up" the tower in front of a camera on the ground floor.

The majority of apartment buildings in Mumbai are weather-beaten and look like they’re about to crumble.

The "Bollywood homes tour for tourists" showcases the most underwhelming apartment buildings of some of the biggest movie stars on the planet, such as Shah Rukh Khan. But you’d never guess it.

On one corner, crowds gather every evening below Salman Khan’s building, where Bollywood’s most popular action man makes an almost daily appearance on a pathetic little balcony in a truly ugly building

A visit to the Sydney Fish Market is nearly as fatal for tourists as it is for fish.

Plastic seats on metal stands overlook the dirty and aptly named Blackwattle Bay.

Heritage falls apart on the harbor's shore, iron rusts and there is no foreshore access. Two huge cement factories that dominate the view around the bay pollute the water.

While it sells itself as a tourist attraction, the smelly fish market has been an exercise in self-interest for decades. See this link for more.

Patpong is touted as Bangkok’s red light district for expats and tourists. In reality it’s about as sexy as an Australian sheila drunk on Two Dogs.

Not that one would expect otherwise, of course, but you still have to look.

If this is amazing snorkeling, please jam our snorkels with seaweed.

The water is murky and short of fish and you have to dodge banana boats and jet skis.

If you’ve got a thing for dead coral, however, please feel free to sign up for a glass bottomed boat ride.

美國有線新聞網絡（CNN）旗下的CNNGo網站，日前評選全球十二個令旅客「失望」景點，香港的尖沙嘴星光大道「榮登亞軍」，與日本東京、意大利比薩斜塔和美國時代廣場亦同樣上榜。該網站形容星光大道逼滿旅行團，攝影攤檔林立，缺乏休憩空間，又播放吵耳的商場音樂，旅遊體驗並不舒適。不過負責的管理公司反駁指控，但會聯同旅發局、旅遊事務署和康文署，商討優化改善空間。

CNNGo網站早前將中國傳統食品皮蛋，選為全球最惡心食物，引起軒然大波，最後該記者道歉。今次CNNGo另一項網上調查，評選全球十二個被視為過分吹捧，會令遊客失望而回的「旅遊陷阱」。榜首是牙買加的杜恩河瀑布，其次是香港的尖沙嘴星光大道，第三位是美國時代廣場。該網站指，香港星光大道擠滿揮動小旗的旅行團，魚貫湧到李小龍銅像；擴音器播放商場音樂，加上攝影紀念攤檔林立，欠缺休憩空間，整個旅遊體驗並不舒適。

尖沙嘴星光大道前身為普通的海濱長廊，八二年由新世界集團興建，○三年斥資四千萬元改建為「星光大道」，當時是一個亮眼的旅遊景點。香港電影金像獎協會更選出獲嘉許的電影明星打手印，現增至一百個。

被評到一文不值，星光大道管理有限公司營運經理陳婉儀認為部分指控不成立。她解釋，星光大道範圍由金像獎女神像開始，至星巴克咖啡店之前完結，文化中心海傍的攝影攤位，不屬星光大道管理範圍，是文化中心發牌予經營者，「我們是『食死貓』，根本與我們無關，要問康文署。就算攝影攤檔拉客手法滋擾遊客，都不到我們管。」她指，星光大道只有三間紀念品店，並不過多。

她又說，沿星光大道的花槽和枱凳，有近二百四十個座位，有足夠休憩設施，「遊客多數漫步，好少坐。」至於被指播放商場音樂吵耳，她解釋，燈柱上的擴音器主要是晚間維港幻彩詠香江表演時，播音樂配合激光演出，「我們亦收過不少遊客來信，指太細聲，好少人話大聲！」她稱：「或者外國遊客喜歡寧靜，但內地客喜歡鬧哄哄，這是主觀感受。何況我們播Bossa Nova等輕音樂，並不是商場音樂。」陳婉儀說，可研究日間調細音量，到幻彩詠香江才調大聲，彈性處理。

菁英教育｜上海托福培训｜上海雅思培训｜遊學｜托福｜多益｜IELTS｜TOEFL｜TOEIC｜雅思｜SAT｜上海SAT培训｜上海SSAT培训｜日本打工遊學｜日語會話