Tourism is a Museum

Personally, I should have written this post in the beginning of this project. In hind set, this is the essential issue at hand, yet it has not been covered. The main purpose of this blog is discuss museums and tourism, which is exactly what I and my group members have done. However, we have not discussed what makes tourism, tourism. To break it down, tourism stems from the need to be immersed in other cultures and the easiest way to access cultural ideas is through museums. In a sense, a tourist does not always have to visit museums, but those who visit museums are tourists, no matter what.

A typical American experience in New York City is a prime example of how to be quickly assimilated into a culture with minimal effort. Even as a New Jerseyan how lives merely an hour outside of the city, I still get a little culture shocked. The New York experience covers a large array of different opportunities to learn more about not only New York but America as well. The great part about NYC is its "museum mile" (it is exactly what it sounds like). With museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, the Guggenheim, and the Museum of the City of New York within blocks of each other, tourists are likely to make this a pit stop when touring New York because it is the easiest way to not only see all of NYC but to learn more about how American culture stems from a variety of ideas.

But why put all of the museums in the city on top of each other? This is a common theme in large cities.    For example, London also has a museum mile made up of hot names like the British Museum, the Charles Dickens Museum, and the Sir John Soane's Museums. Unlike the museum mile of New York City, London's museum mile fits its own culture. Everything in New York falls into a grid shape pattern that expresses how Americans need to simply access their art and cultural. In London, their museum mile is spread out, allowing international tourist to not only view the museums, but to see parts of London as well.

In my opinion, there is a simple equation to why so many museums call major cities home. Seldom do tourists venture out to the small, mom and pop cities to do their sight seeing. So all in  all: a large city + a museum mile= a tourist hotspot, not only for international tourists, but for citizens as well. Tourism would be nothing without museums to marinate all who go in a city and country's culture.





http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/new-york-walking-tour-2/
http://www.museum-mile.org.uk/page2.html