Culture

Are tourist traps part of culture? OK, my answer to this is NO. Tourist traps are not part of the culture. I think this is marketing's biggest success ever. Let's take the Bahamas for instance. Everybody knows, even who has never been there, that if a neighbor tells you they are going to the Bahamas on vacation they are going to be drinking cool island drinks (pinneaple daquiri's, etc.) and spending time on the beach. What told us that we had to travel thousands of miles to drink a mai tai, lie on the beach, and tan. We can get a tan in a back yard, everybody in the states is only a 20 hour or less drive to the beach, and we can visit the supermarket for fresh pineapples and kiwis. Culture is the originality of the non manufactured. It extends beyond money. And after all, it is money that creates tourist traps, the Hawaiian flower lai, the Pinacolada, and the endless junket of trinkets found near cruise ships and train stations. And by the way, the US has tried to take it to the next level by incorporating the gift shop as part of the attraction. (We only have so many natural attractions and few years of history) At least when I bought that little pyramid paper weight in Tenochtitlan, it wasn't accompanied with gift wrap.