Oh no, did I ever blow it.
Just a few weeks ago I wrote about a British company using pickpockets in London to put money back in people's pockets (London's Putpockets Unfair to Americans). In fact, I prodded officials at VisitBritain, the official British tourism promotion organization, to spread the wealth a bit, and pressure these modern day Oliver Twists to help Americans by putting a few pounds back into the pockets of U.S. tourists at London's top tourists sites.
Yesterday, though, TripAdvisor came out with a survey of the top 10 places worldwide to get your pockets picked. And guess what -- London didn't even make the list.
Well thank you TripAdvisor for going all out to embarrass me.
First of all, you should understand that TripAdvisor's surveys are polls taken on its website, not data collected from pollsters at hundreds of airports around the world. Still though, these polls do provide some insight into traveler's perceptions, even if it amounts to no more than sticking your finger in the air to test the touristic winds. If you're traveling anywhere you may find "TripAdvisor's Top 10 Places to Beware Pickpockets" useful.
So where's the best place to get your pockets picked? According to the 1260 people who responded to TripAdvisor's poll, Las Ramblas in Barcelona takes the top spot, followed by Rome, Prague, Madrid, Paris, Florence, Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Athens and Hanoi, Vietnam.
Obviously all of these cities are places frequented by travelers. But so are places like New York, San Francisco, and a hundred other top tourist cities worldwide. Since not a single American city made the list, one can only surmise that 1) the people who take TripAdvisor surveys only travel to Europe, with an occasional side trip to Argentina and Vietnam, or 2) U.S. police departments are extremely good at protecting TripAdvisor survey-takers.
As for London, perhaps its roving band of putpockets has won the hearts, but not the wallets, of American travelers.
Jim Ferri
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TripAdvisor has been putting out surveys and polls on just about everything you can imagine lately. One of their latest polls -- "the top 5 germiest world attractions" -- has made the folks at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) delirious with joy.
According to the poll of 4,600 travelers, since the swine flu outbreak 34% of people have become more "germaphobic" when traveling. And there are signs of even greater phobia -- on TripAdvisor's forums the use of the word "germs" has increased 97% and "sanitizer" 182%.
But the big news, of course, is its listing of the world's top "germiest" sites:
The Blarney Stone, at Ireland's Blarney Castle, kissed by 400,000 people per year
The Wall of Gum, at the Market Theatre in Seattle, Washington -- a bizarre wall "mural" started by theater-goers in the 1990s
Oscar Wilde's Tomb in Paris' Pere-Lachaise cemetery -- adorned with a rainbow of lipstick kiss-marks
Venice's famed St. Mark's Square -- home to thousands of pigeons and the things pigeon leave behind
Grauman's Chinese Theater, in Hollywood, CA -- which made the list since millions of fans touch the molds of their favorite stars
Reading this exposé I realized I had already been exposed to three of the sites, lacking only contagion at the Wall of Gum and Oscar Wilde's Tomb. And, as luck would have it, I was to be in Seattle soon. Two days later I packed my hand sanitizer and set out for the airport.
The Wall was not an easily place to find. Hidden away on the southern end of Seattle's crowded Pike Place Market, we found it only after being directed there by a tout for a restaurant a hundred yards away.
And it was as bizarre as TripAdvisor had promised: a gazillion pieces of gum stuck to the wall by movie buffs and tourists over a period of nearly two decades -- a veritable museum to Wrigley and Trident. And Listerine and Scope, as well.
Tourists -- most in their twenties and younger -- wandered by to view the surreal mural, many making a personal donation before they left. They were often photographed by their friends -- some whom appeared to want to keep their distance -- as they molded their gummy wads into little pieces of art work.
I couldn't help but wonder why some gum salesman wasn't making a killing here. And also how soon I could get to Paris.
Jim Ferri
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I've just read a survey and I now have a much better understanding of just how abusive American parents are to their children on vacation.
No, really, this is not a joke. If you look at the statistics from the latest TripAdvisor survey you'll understand.
Don't believe me? Consider this...
In the latest TripAdvisor survey people rated New York City, along with Orlando and Washington, DC, as a place they plan to visit with their children in the next 12 months. In the same survey they also rated New York City (along with Las Vegas and Paris) as one of the three least family-friendly destinations.
Of course, like any concerned parent this made me wonder just what is going on during those trips to the Big Apple so I read more of TripAdvisor's report. And guess what -- 66% of those surveyed said that parents with young children shouldn't go to bars and pubs when they're on vacation.
A-ha! Obviously, people wouldn't say things like this if they actually hadn't seen kids in bars and pubs while they were on vacation. Which made me read even further...
According to TripAdvisor 82% of people also get frustrated (either "very" or "somewhat") with children while traveling. The most common child annoyance, according to 53% of the people who took the survey, are kids kicking the back of your seat on an airplane.
Well, as I see it -- and you don't have to be a rocket scientist or flight attendant to figure this one out -- since 35% of these same people also admitted they often would rather take a vacation without the children, it's apparent that Mom and Dad are heavily into the Bloody Marys and beers before the plane has even left the gate, and are not properly supervising their children. Obviously, these are the same people doing pub crawls with their kids on New York's Upper West Side.
Most likely this is the reason why 69% of people would like to see child-free zones on airplanes. And if you thought those extra charges for checked luggage, food and pillows was something, just think what the airlines can charge for this once they have figured out the seating configuration.
But, according to TripAdvisor, it seems the kids aren't the real issue. 42% also said that while on vacation their spouse complains as much as the children, and 21% said he/she actually complains more than the kids.
As a marketer it makes me wonder if the airlines aren't now contemplating spouse-free zones. Now there's a way to make some real money.
Jim Ferri
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