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Tourist trap
Establishment designed to attract tourists and their money From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A tourist trap is an establishment (or group of establishments) created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souvenirs, and other products for tourists to purchase.[1] Tourist trap derives from the information asymmetry between tourists and the market.
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United States
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In some areas, simple facilities may be a sufficient draw to entice tourists to stop. Wall Drug, in South Dakota, began its tourist trade by offering free ice water.[2]
Breezewood, Pennsylvania, represents a physical tourist trap at the intersection of Interstate 70 and Interstate 76, where the two major highways are not directly connected, forcing transiting drivers off the interstate and "into several suddenly urban blocks with traffic lights and a dense bazaar of gas stations, fast food restaurants and motels."[3]
South of the Border is an attraction on Interstate 95 (I-95), US Highway 301 (US 301) and US 501 in Dillon, South Carolina, just south of Rowland, North Carolina. It is so named because it is just south of the border between North Carolina and South Carolina, and was the halfway point to Florida from New York in the early days of motor travel. The area is themed in tongue-in-cheek, faux-Mexican style. The rest area contains restaurants, gas stations, a video arcade, a motel, a truck stop as well as a small amusement park, a mini golf course, shopping and fireworks stores. Its mascot is Pedro, a caricature of a Mexican bandido. South of the Border is known for its roadside billboard advertisements, which begin many miles away, and incorporates a mileage countdown to the attraction itself. The venue also is home of a prominent motocross training facility.
Alice's Restaurant, a restaurant in Sky Londa, California, named after its founder Alice Taylor, accidentally became a tourist trap after singer Arlo Guthrie released his signature song of the same name, which was based on a totally unrelated Massachusetts restaurant established by Alice Brock. After Taylor sold the restaurant, her successors themed the restaurant after the song, adding a "Group W bench" for example, when they realized the confusion was good for business.[4]
A few establishments take pride in the term and embody it into their names, such as "Da Yoopers Tourist Trap",[5] run by the comedy troupe Da Yoopers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and "The Tourist Trap"[6] at Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.
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