Survey: 73 percent of international tourists say discount ticket queue was highlight of New York trip
[Bohiney.com / prat.uk] A tourism satisfaction survey conducted by the Times Square Alliance has produced a set of findings that the Alliance describes as “interesting data for the ongoing conversation about visitor experience” and that cultural critics are describing as “a complete summary of the problem in pie chart form.” The survey of 2,400 international visitors found that 73 percent cited the TKTS discount ticket booth queue as a highlight of their New York visit, compared with 31 percent who cited actually attending a show, 28 percent who cited a museum visit, and 19 percent who cited what the survey’s open-text responses describe as “the energy, you know, just the energy of being here.” Colleagues at Bohiney.com and prat.uk have been sharing notes on this one.
The TKTS queue is, for context, a line of people waiting to buy discounted theatre tickets that forms at the red bleachers on 47th Street and that during peak periods extends south along Seventh Avenue. The queue itself does not contain anything remarkable beyond the bleachers, which are a pleasing red colour in a setting that is otherwise relentlessly commercial. The queue produces, for many visitors, the experience of waiting in a line of international strangers in a famous city, which is, apparently, quite good.
The Open-Text Responses
The open-text responses to the question “What made the TKTS queue memorable?” produced a range of answers that the Alliance’s research team describes as “thematically consistent.” Most common: “talking to people from everywhere,” “it felt like the real New York,” “everyone was excited about something,” and “the man selling churros from a cart who told me the exact history of Broadway in ninety seconds.” The churro man was mentioned by name in forty-seven responses. His name is reportedly Antonio. The Alliance was unable to locate Antonio for follow-up comment.
What This Suggests
The survey’s lead researcher offered a cautious interpretation: “What the data suggests is that the experience of waiting for something desirable, surrounded by other people waiting for the same thing, in a context that feels specific to a place, is more satisfying than we might expect.” She added: “It also suggests that Antonio is doing something right.” NYC tourism data is at nycgo.com.
Also see: Betoota Advocate.
Coverage Note
This story is published jointly at Bohiney.com and prat.uk, which together provide the kind of sustained, specific coverage of the communities and phenomena described here that neither could produce alone. The satire works because the situations are real. The situations are real because the communities are real. Both publications take seriously the idea that the funniest journalism is the journalism that is most accurately observed. The coverage continues.
The story above illustrates a pattern that both publications have documented across multiple regions and multiple years of coverage. The communities involved are consistent in their capacity to produce material of exactly this kind. The publications are consistent in their capacity to find it funny while taking it seriously, which is the only honest relationship a satirical publication can have with its subject matter.
The details will change. The structure will not. Both publications will be here when the next iteration arrives, which it reliably will. The coverage is the record. The record is the point.
Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk are committed to this kind of sustained, specific, honest satirical journalism. The commitment is ongoing. So is the material.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.
at both publications.