7 Cities that Overdid their Marketing

From the chocolate capital to the land of smiles…

According to a recent survey over half of all Americans admit to lying on their CV - with the most common "exaggeration" concerning previous work experience. But that's just folk - what about towns? In fact, when cities want to attract tourists, they're not above a little bit of creative thinking too. The BuffPo has been taking a closer look at seven of the most naughty cases.

7. Casablanca, Morocco

What is Casablanca famous for? Well, for many people in the West, it is for being the backdrop to Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman's romance in the film of the same name. For people living in the region it is a key economic hub with a busy port. But for the indefatigable tourist marketeers, Casablanca is supposed to be famous for its clock tower. Situated on United Nations square, this serves as the entrance to the southern part of the medina. We don't think it rates much as a structure though - indeed a clock tower near our offices is more distinctive and has none of the political baggage that this one comes with! Because Casablanca's supposed tourist site is actually a symbol of French colonial power, built in 1911 by the French captain Dessigny, who wanted to convince the city's inhabitants of the need to switch their laid-back lifestyles for getting up early and going to the factories.

6. Bangkok, Thailand

Thailand is one of the friendliest nations and thus it's called "The Land of Smiles". However, a blogger at Adventurous Travels calls it an overrated tourist trap and recalled that on his visit everyone frowned at him!

As for what to call Thailand's capital, Bangkok, locals refer to their city as Krungthep or 'City of Angels'. Curiously, the full, 169-characters long name is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest name of a place. If you really want to challenge yourself, try pronouncing it without pausing:

Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahinthara Yutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udom Ratchaniwet Mahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukamprasit.

This, roughly anyway, translates to:

City of angels, great city of immortals, the magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarman at Indra's behest.

Just like Venice, Bangkok is also a city built on dozens of canals and with buildings standing on stilts. Although most of these canals have now been paved over, a nickname as 'Venice of the East' has stuck. Unlikely? But another, less-cheerful point of similarity is both cities are slowly sinking. Due to rising sea levels and extensive development, Bangkok is disappearing at a rate of 2 centimeters per year. By comparison, Venice is only sinking a few millimeters annually! In fact, parts of Bangkok could be submerged in just a few decades, so you might want to hurry your vacation there.

5. Bordeaux, France

 

 

Ah the city of wine, the UNESCO classified town center with its gorgeous, limestone apartments… But there's a problem, it seems the 'Sleeping Beauty' hasn't woken up yet. Indeed, the city noted for its cultural, architectural and peaceful-ambiance seems grossly overrated. Bordeaux isn't ugly - but it sure doesn't feel outstanding, the architecture is okay, but nothing to go wild about. The cultural scene is much exaggerated, there are things going on, but not much more than your average French city festivals. Bordeaux is also rather scruffy and many areas of the town center are run-down. It's a busy city with awful traffic and badly maintained buildings.
Bordeaux isn't an awful city, it's just rather disappointing and far, FAR away from the "world's best city to visit" that 'Lonely Planet' described it as. Indeed, one of its main monuments, the 'Porte Dijeaux', could be compared with the considerably less famous 'Porte Horloge' of Vire, near our HQ. Actually, we'd even say our one is nicer!

4. Houston, USA

 

 

The city that brought men to the Moon. A big city with space, lots of space. Now, yes, NASA kind of space but also everything is far away kind of space. In fact, Houston is so spread out that the city is almost un-walkable! Which makes it a 'car only' city and also unbelievably BORING. It's all very different from other Texan cities like San Antonio with its pretty riverside or Austin which has a great vibe and loads of cultural activities, Houston, by contrast, has almost nothing going on! No fancy museums, no pretty side streets, no nothing… So, if you wish to go there on holiday, maybe book in a trip to the nearby beaches because otherwise you'll probably get rather bored.
Not only that, but Houston is also ridiculously hot and HUMID, so much so that its considered dangerous to health! It's SO humid that you might feel as much as 5 degrees hotter than the actual temperature! Its more like sweltering Venus than chilly Moon.

3. Turin, Italy

 

This industrial center is famous for many things, from the Turin Shroud, which supposedly depicts Jesus, to its rather fine Egyptian Museum. But that's not been enough for the town's spin doctors, who have insisted on rebranding Turin as the chocolate capital of Europe. Like what? We thought that was maybe Bruxelles, or maybe Birmingham, for the English. But no, it turns out that Turin has a particular place in chocolate history because the original hot chocolate called the Bicerin (a glass of hot coffee, cacao and milk cream) was invented there - way back in 1678. It was at this moment that, upon royal permission, the city was awarded the first official license to produce chocolate, thereby crowning it Europe's chocolate capital.

Trouble is, if you visit Turin today, the city seems to have rather lost the tradition and turned more towards making motor cars. Today it hosts Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo. As for chocolate, there's really only one maker, Grupo Turin. But guess what, in 2015, the US-based Mars family, reputedly the richest family in America, acquired the firm intending to capitalise on the Mexican chocolate market. Confused? But the point is that today, there's not so much with a chocolate flavour to be found in Turin.

2. Chester, Great Britain

 

In terms of unlikely boasts, Chester surely deserves a prize. This is the town that claims science - no less - says it is more beautiful than Venice.

Lots of towns seek to cash-in on the incredible tourist value of Venice in Italy, typically on the basis of how many canals run through them. Chester, in north-west England, does indeed have a canal - just one - but no one is going to rush to visit this rather dull inland waterway. No, Chester's trump card, played against Venice is that in a 2023 study, Chester emerged as the world's most beautiful city. Now Chester does have some charming black-and-white beamed houses, plus an historic city wall - but it's all rather small-scale. The claim to outdo Venice and the grand bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica
which stands nearly 100 meters tall, seems overblown. Instead, Chester bases its claim to fame on the fact that as many as 84% of buildings there adhere to the golden ratio.

1. Norilsk, Russia

 

Now, yes, Norilsk is not a popular tourist destination, the city was even closed to foreigners in 2001! But the 'Coldest City on Earth' could sound like a cool (excuse the bad pun) place to go… Salaries are THREE times higher than the Russian average, the city has good hospitals and almost no crime! Tourists will also enjoy seeing the interesting architecture and exploring the surrounding tundra… Yet, Norilsk might actually be one of the absolute WORST places to go to as well. Norilsk was built by prisoners from the Gulag, the city grew thanks to massive natural resources, gold, platinum and most importantly, nickel. Norilsk's nickel mining company today is such a big deal that it contributes by itself for more than 2% of the ENTIRE Russian GDP!

That's particularly bad because 'NorNickel' pollutes the city's air and land to an ABSURD degree. Tons of chemicals, gas and petrol spill into surrounding rivers, even turning them RED like blood. This had the company fined…a measly $100.
Air pollution might be even worse though, with the result that life expectancy is ridiculously low (no wonder they need good hospitals) and you probably shouldn't live there permanently. In fact, many don't, instead, thousands come to Norilsk to work as miners and save some money for when they can eventually move back to the 'mainland', as wistfully call it.

By our Travel office in Domfront…