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Tourists on NYC (and its Bathrooms)
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 19, 2008
Modified Aug 19, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 19, 2008
Modified Aug 19, 2008
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There's a pretty amusing NY Times article on tourists' impressions of New York City and New Yorkers. Given that the Big Apple draws about 9 million foreign visitors (on top of about 39 million American tourists), there are a lot of impressions. A few:
- “In the ladies’ toilets you can see people’s feet. It’s the first time I’ve seen something like that. Where I’m from we have full doors on the bathrooms.” - From a German tourist
- “There are a lot of men here that are really muscular. [Back in Spain] people go to the gym to stay healthy, but not to get huge.” - A Spanish tourist
- “Everywhere there is an American flag or some other country’s flag...In my country, we only have flags on important buildings, like government buildings." - A Czech tourist
- Re: restroom stalls, “There is a space between the door and the wall, and someone can see you from the outside. In Germany you would never have that.” - A different German tourist
That final point is something that NYC residents also hate, though! And one woman from Seattle found many New Yorkers to be "as rude as they can be." She also bought pillows at Macy's because the ones at her hotel were too thin (woo to spending money in the city!).
The city is trying to attract 50 million tourists by the year 2015 and considers foreign tourists to be an economic safety net.
Tagged
nyc
nyc tourism
tourists
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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