This is a blog about science: how awesome it is, how misunderstood it is, how screwed over by policy-makers and politicians it is, and how if we could just make science education that little bit more effective we might all be happier. If you've come looking for cold hard research blogging, you are not going to find it here - this isn't what this blog is about. But if you are in love with science, and you want to know why this part-time palaeontology PhD student is in love with science too, then you and I are going to get on just fine.

Friday, 27 February 2009

America's Top 25 Most Visted Places Meme

ReBecca did this meme a month ago, and I'm only just getting round to having a go myself. I consider myself pretty well travelled, but I think on this one Paul will beat me, if only by virtue of having been to Florida! The figures are the number of visitors each year, and I've emboldened the places I've visited.

  1. Times Square, New York City, NY - 35 million
  2. The Las Vegas Strip, Las Vegas, NV - 31 million
  3. National Mall and Memorial Parks, Washington DC - 24 million
  4. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, MA - 20 million
  5. Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, FL - 17.1 million
  6. Disneyland Park, Anaheim, CA - 14.9 million
  7. Fisherman's Wharf/Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, CA - 14 million
  8. Niagara Falls, NY - 12 million


  9. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN/NC - 9.4 million
  10. Navy Pier, Chicago, IL - 8.6 million
  11. Lake Mead National Recreation Area, AR/NV - 7.6 million
  12. Universal Studios/ Islands of Adventure, Orlando, FL - 6.2 million
  13. SeaWorld Florida, Orlando, FL - 6 million
  14. San Antonio River Walk, TX - 5.1 million


  15. Temple Square, Salt Lake City, UT - 5 million
  16. Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, PA/NJ - 4.8 million
  17. Universal Studios Hollywood, CA - 4.7 million
  18. Metropolitan Museum, New York City, NY - 4.5 million
  19. Waikiki Beach, Oahu, HI - 4.5 million
  20. Grand Canyon, AZ - 4.41 million


  21. Busch Gardens Africa, Tampa Bay, FL - 4.4 million
  22. Cape Cod National Seashore, MA - 4.35 million
  23. SeaWorld San Diego, CA - 4.26 million
  24. American Museum of Natural History, New York City, NY - 4 million
  25. Atlantic City Boardwalk, NJ - 4 million
A respectable non-American score of 11/25! I do wonder what the most visited British places are, and whether I'd do any better there. For example, I've never been round Buckingham Palace, nor have I ever visited Madame Tussauds, even though they're two of the most popular tourist attractions in London, and even though I work five minutes from the Palace!

More interestingly, I wonder if there's a way of correlating the top 100 geological places visited with the visitor numbers for each attraction? Possibly not as with so many geological sites there's no way of tracking accurate visitor numbers.

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