Although tourist destinations often trade on their distinctive visual presence, often there is no lack of imitation to go along with the unique. Replicas of other places have long been a hallmark of tourism. Well before its renown for country music, Nashville, Tennessee, styled itself as the “Athens of the South” and even built a full-size Parthenon for its Tennessee Centennial Exposition in 1897. In more recent years, Las Vegas has borrowed architecture unabashedly from places as far-flung as New York and Venice. Few places have inspired more imitations than the New Orleans French Quarter, one of the featured destinations in American Tourism: Constructing a National Tradition. Much enamored of the Vieux Carré, Walt Disney added New Orleans Square, a miniaturized version of the…
Tagged: cultural impact, Disneyland, French Quarter, imitation, Legoland, Nashville, New Orleans, Opryland, replicas, San Diego, tourism, travel