Why do many famous attractions fail to live up to our expectations?

Travel guide books have driven lots of people to tourist destinations over decades. Mysterious archeological sites or picturesque sceneries provide us with unforgettable experience. However, some exaggerations of adverts and out of date information make us feel let down. In this post I would like to find out from my own experience what factors result in a sense of disappointment for tourists and what keeps our expectations from disappointing factors.

Firstly, the travel industry has inflated tourists' expectations too much. Indeed, a sensational phrase affects our decisions which destination we are going to the next holiday, but after the travel we often realise that it was not all it is cracked up to be. If they had not got trapped by biased information, they could have enjoyed their entire journey. Unfortunately travel companies sometimes provide us with huge expectations and a little bit disappointment rather than a real experience.

Secondly, the passage of time plays a key role in the gap between information of travel brochure and the reality. Most destinations have changed as time goes by. For example, I went to Prague, the Czech Republic last May. The city has been completely renovated but has become a tourist trap. The price was almost same as Tokyo, but the quality was not adequate. I could not cross the Charles bridge without touching someone's shoulder. The first time I visited the city was before the Republic joined the EU. It was less people and less commercial so that I could enjoy its medieval atmosphere. It was more attractive than it is. However some travel guide books and brochures do not mention the latest information.

Tourists tend to seek the ultimate destination which is must-see but provides satisfaction. It seems difficult to live up to our huge expectations. To conclude, there is some advice that avoid feeling let down in the end. Resist temptations to taking all information from travel companies on board. Take every opportunities to search for actual information on the internet on your own. These attempts would keep our expectations from getting too unrealistic.