Travel + Leisure magazine’s lists usually feature Hawaii, or aspects of the 808 State, rather prominently — until now.
Its lists of the world’s most iconic landmarks are devoid of Hawaii.
No Diamond Head, no Aloha Tower, no Waipio Valley or Akaka Falls, no Iao Needle, no Fern Grotto.
No Iolani Palace, either, observed David Uchiyama, vice president of tourism marketing for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
The T+L list was compiled during an online survey in September and October. Respondents were asked to vote on their 60 favorite landmarks from among several categories and were asked whether they had seen the landmark, which is how T+L editors arrived at the list of most-visited sites.
The overall list of most-visited landmarks was topped by the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building in New York City, with San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge at No. 3.
The three Top Classic Landmarks were the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Statue of Liberty and Machu Picchu in Peru.
Topping the list of the best Arenas and Performance Venues were the National Stadium in Beijing, often referred to as the "Bird’s Nest," Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the National Aquatic Center, also in Beijing.
The other lists focused on the new, as in Top New Skyscrapers, Top New Parks and Public Spaces, Top New Museums and Top New Bridges, with No. 1 being the Grand Canyon Skywalk in Arizona.
Harrumph. Hawaii was represented on exactly none of the lists.
"I would take it with a grain of salt," Uchiyama said. "On the lists of ‘Best Beaches,’ ‘Best Islands,’ we always rank up there in the top five, and if not all the islands, in the top 10. I would take that over some of our landmarks."
However, non-appearance on this particular T+L list "gives us an opportunity to get to work and get those positioned as well."
Other places also felt slighted and said as much in the online comments section below the lists.
Someone posting as DestinationJerseyCity touted the possibility of visiting the Statue of Liberty from Jersey City, where there are "virtually no lines."
A poster named Paradox observed that "ignorance is bliss," that "several of the most-popular (landmarks) are missing," while Tom1 observed the lists’ lack of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Niagara Falls.
WestCoastBuckeye posited a reason for the direction in which the list leans. "Well, we all now know who reads ‘Travel and Leisure.’ Hey New Yorkers, try getting out of the city some time. There’s a wide world out there."
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On the Net:
» is.gd/TandL_ LandmarksHIfree
A PR success
A recent PR pitch by Wally Zimmermann, senior vice president of client services at Bright Light Marketing, was too much fun to allow to languish in the email inbox. It offers the Top 10 reasons to choose a particular Valentine’s Day Buffet.
No. 10, she likes snow crab, he likes Dungeness crab; 9, no one will notice if you go right to the chocolate fountain; 8, the pasta station chef might break into song; 7, her mom and dad only go on Easter Sunday; 6, you don’t have to start with salad; 5, the sushi station doesn’t count plates; 4, you can go back to the buffet while he stares at the mermaid; 3, you won’t need to buy a card, a diver will swim up with your sweet message; 2, kids don’t have to pick vegetables; and No. 1, Fat Tuesday will still be a week away.
In case the mermaid and diver references didn’t make it obvious, the aforementioned V-Day buffet is at the Pacific Beach Hotel’s Oceanarium restaurant.
This is bound to make many a Buzz-pitcher a little envious.
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
