tourism

A Cost Analysis of Observation Decks around the World

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During my last visit to New York City, I avoided going to the “Top of the Rock” observation deck of the GE Building in favor of this view. In the process, I saved $25 and hours waiting in line.

The Economist published an interesting chart showing the price of admission to height of the public viewing platforms, sampling the most popular destinations around the world. Topping the list is the new building in London dubbed “The Shard”:

THE SHARD, the latest big skyscraper to pierce London’s skyline and the tallest building in Europe, recently opened for business—and to the general public. Some visitors have marvelled at the view from the top. Others have complained at the hefty entrance fee of £29.95 ($47) for an adult paying on the door. At a mere 244m (800 feet) high, the Shard is poor value for money when measured against its height.

height_buildings

The Empire State Building ranks third on this list. I think they are using the $42 adult admission price that includes both the 86th and 102nd floor viewings. Using the top deck height of 1250ft = 381.0m, the price per 1 meter of observation viewing is equal to 11.02 cents.

Missing on that chart is the price/height for “Top of the Rock,” which I calculate to be 9.65 cents (850 feet = 259.1m and a $25 admission price). That would put “Top of the Rock” as sixth most expensive observation viewing, which isn’t too bad.

What other observation towers are you familiar with that The Economist didn’t incorporate on their chart?

The London Cab-otel

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Here’s a fun way to tap into the booming tourism market that comes with the Olympic Games. David Weekes, a full-time cab driver in London, has transformed his iconic black cab into a hotel for one, available to rent for £50 (US$78.50) a night. CNNGo explains:

The taxi comes with a “memory foam” mattress, pillow, duvet, a bedside lamp and a Paddington Bear teddy. 

It also offers a solar-powered fridge, a radio, an iPad and camping chairs and a portable table on request. 

But Weekes does have two rules: no smoking and no pets. 

The listing to book the cab-otel is here.

Medical Tourism in America

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From John C. Goodman’s new book, Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, we learn that there is, in fact, a medical tourism market in the United States. In fact, even Americans can partake in it:

Moreover, you do not have to be a foreigner to benefit from domestic medical tourism. Colorado-based BridgeHealth International offers US employer plans a specialty network with flat fees for surgeries paid in advance that are 15 percent to 50 percent less than a typical network. North American Surgery, Inc., has negotiated deep discounts with 22 surgery centers, hospitals and clinics across the United States as an alternative to foreign travel for low-cost surgeries. As noted, the “cash” price for a hip replacement in the network is $16,000 to $19,000, making it competitive with facilities in India and Singapore.

One reason why so little is known about the domestic medical tourism market is that hospitals prefer that most of their patients not know about it. The reason: they are often offering the traveling patient package prices not available to local patients. That occurs because the hospital is only competing on price for the patients who travel.

(via Alex Tabarrok)

The Culture That is Japan

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This is a fascinating piece on the culture of Japan. Over the last twenty years of recession, the Japanese have traveled abroad and returned with acquired international tastes. In fact, as the piece attests, Japan may be a better destination than its foreign counterparts where the product is made. If you want to test fine French cuisine, head over to Tokyo rather than Paris, and this piece explains why.

Japan has become the most culturally cosmopolitan country on Earth, a place where you can lunch at a bistro that serves 22 types of delicious and thoroughly Gallic terrines, shop for Ivy League–style menswear at a store that puts to shame the old-school shops of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and spend the evening sipping rare single malts in a serene space that boasts a collection of 12,000 jazz, blues and soul albums. The best of everything can be found here, and is now often made here: American-style fashion, haute French cuisine, classic cocktails, modern luxury hotels. It might seem perverse for a traveler to Tokyo to skip sukiyaki in favor of Neapolitan pizza, but just wait until he tastes that crust.

An interesting factoid about the quality of food:

Though many Japanese foodies and critics deride the Michelin Guide for a perceived ignorance of traditional Japanese food culture, the publication of the first Red Guide to Tokyo just four years ago signaled a tectonic shift in the international culinary scene. In the latest guide, 247 of Tokyo’s restaurants have stars—almost four times the number in Paris, and more than the total number in London, New York City and Paris, pointing to the spectacular appeal of this city to foreign palates. 

It’s no surprise to see the top ranks of Japan’s Red Guide populated by tiny sushi bars and extravagant kaiseki restaurants, but each year there are also more and more non-Japanese restaurants earning stars for their creative cooking. One of Tokyo’s three-star establishments—an honor awarded to only 15 restaurants in the main cities of Europe but to 16 in Tokyo alone—is Quintessence, which serves contemporary French food created by a young Japanese chef named Shuzo Kishida.

On Japanese bars:

It’s this embracing of bartending as a vocation that makes Japan’s bars better than those anywhere else in the world. There’s also the hyperspecialization encouraged by the fact that bars can be so small—and that almost every narrow pursuit can find enough customers to at least break even. But maybe the central reason this city is so amazing for drinkers is that the quest to find the best is, by definition, a Sisyphean task.

Read the piece to find out about Katsuyuki Tanaka, an owner of a coffee shop who requires his baristas to train for at least a year before they can serve espressos.

I’ve never been to Japan, but from what I’ve read, the country is quickly becoming the best place in the world in which to eat, drink, shop, and sleep.