Tourist

OK, quickly name America's top tourist destination. Orlando, Fla.? Las Vegas? The Grand Canyon? Try New York. By New Year's Eve, New York expected to have made history by snaring more than 50 million tourists in one year, considerably surpassing a deadline that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg set early in his administration for 2015 and then moved up to the end of 2012. When it became clear that the city would come in a year ahead of schedule, Bloomberg staged a media event just before Christmas in Times Square with balloons and billboards and a couple of smiling Brits.

LAS VEGAS - A Nevada state audit of practices by Clark County cab drivers has given new meaning to the term “being taken for a ride” - to the tune of nearly $15 million. Under scrutiny was a practice known here as “long hauling,” in which drivers take an extended route by freeway to the Strip from McCarran International Airport, when local streets could cut both the time and the cost. The practice added an average of $10 to each fare. A report by the legislative auditor, released Monday, found that in 2012 cabbies running up the meter by taking the scenic route to and from the airport cost nearly 1.5 million fares an estimated $14.8 million . Auditors warned the Nevada Taxicab Authority to crack down on the practice, which accounted for 614, or 22.5%, of the 2,730 airport trips that auditors reviewed.

Despite past assurances that tourists are safe in their country, Mexican tourism officials are again faced with trying to explain away another report of crime against foreign visitors. The latest incident took place in the resort town of Acapulco, where six Spanish tourists on vacation were raped Sunday by masked gunmen. Unlike many crimes involving drug violence in the country's interior states, the rapes took place near the beach, where the tourists were renting bungalows near four-star hotels.

HONOLULU - He's known as the Woody Guthrie of Hawaiian music, a virtuoso ukulele player who's helped to introduce new generations to music that might otherwise be lost. But on the autumn morning I met up with Eddie Kamae, few people seemed to recognize the octogenarian wearing Levis and a blue work shirt. It was just after 9 a.m., and Eddie was eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream at the Wailana Coffee House in Waikiki. He had risen before sunrise to pray, read the paper and watch the sky lighten from the nearby apartment building where he and his wife, Myrna, have lived for nearly half a century.

PETRA, Jordan--After four days of difficult Middle East diplomacy, President Obama headed home Saturday after playing tourist at the elaborate ruins of Petra, an ancient city carved from sheer rock faces of surrounding mountains. The remains of monasteries, burial tombs and baths from the Nabatean civilization more than 2,000 years ago are the pride of Jordan, Obama's final stop in the region. The archaeological park attracts half a million visitors a year, and Obama, dressed in khaki slacks and a Navy windbreaker, seemed as awestruck as any other tourist.

Peek.com , a new site that helps tourists find and book activities, has added Los Angeles in its latest expansion. The site is trying to do for tourist activities what Expedia.com does for booking flights and hotels. The site went live in parts of California and Hawaii in October, but it added results for Los Angeles this week. Users traveling to Los Angeles or residents who are simply looking for something to do can go to the site and search for nightlife, sightseeing tours, restaurants, or arts and culture activities.

Smart Destinations , which offers sightseeing passes in several destinations, this week launched its "Go Select" pass in Los Angeles . Both visitors and locals can save money with the pass when they visit two or more attractions in the Southern California area. The deal:  Go Select lets you choose your own attraction itinerary or opt for  preselected themed packages with titles such as "Kid Friendly" and "Hollywood Stars. " After purchase, you receive an email with a QR code (similar to a bar code but it also works with smart phones)

Deep Ocean Expeditions offers the ultimate Titanic tour this summer: See the shipwreck firsthand from a tiny submersible during the 100th anniversary of its sinking. Despite the stiff $60,000 price tag, the Titanic dives became so popular among tourists that the company added a third trip. Now expedition coordinator Rob McCallum tells National Geographic News that Titanic dives planned for July and August will be the company's last. Deep Ocean holds the exclusive charter for Titanic dives.

Japanese millionaire Daisuke Enomoto spent $21 million to become a space tourist but accuses the company that was supposed make it happen of brushing him aside with little more than "sorry, no refunds." A federal judge in Alexandria heard arguments in Enomoto's lawsuit against Space Adventures, which made its name brokering deals with the Russian space agency to put half a dozen "space tourists" in orbit for $20 million or more. Space Adventures wants the lawsuit thrown out, saying Enomoto was disqualified in 2006 because of a chronic kidney-stone condition.

I find it very sad that the letter about visiting Mexico [Letters, Nov. 23] was so angry. Although I would love to see Mexico solve its problems in fighting the drug war (fueled, sadly, by the U.S. demand for illegal drugs), I don't see how punishing the average Mexican citizen would benefit the cause. Tourism is an important part of the economy of Mexico. I have never felt unsafe there. As the Travel section always recommends, tourists must use common sense everywhere they go. Even in the U.S. Deborah Searle Chino

We speak very little French, so negotiating the Paris Métro was difficult until we thought to search for an iPad app. We entered our current location and where we wanted to go. The Paris Métro app listed the stations and transfers we needed to reach our destination. We'll never again travel without our iPad. It allowed us to feel more like a Parisian than a tourist. Paris Métro app, free for iPad and iPhone Paula Horn Nipomo, Calif.

Historical advocates in San Juan Capistrano argued that the jagged hills of southern Orange County were deep under water when dinosaurs first roamed the Earth. No land-roaming dinosaur - neither a T. rex , stegosaurus nor apatosaurus - would have come through unless lost at sea. Many things have changed since the water washed away: Missionaries built a majestic cathedral, settlers established what would become one of California's oldest neighborhoods and a thick cloud of swallows would flock back to their nests here each spring.

SHANGHAI -- A trip that has been marked by solemn meetings with Communist Party officials in dark suits took a decidedly different tack Friday as Gov. Jerry Brown helped launch a new ad campaign to attract Chinese tourists to California.  The glass ceilinged ballroom of the Ritz Carlton throbbed with a mashup of house music versions of famous Golden State songs like "California Dreamin" and "If You're Going to San Francisco. " Quick-cut images of iconic California locations radiated from a pair of large video screens amid blue strobe  lights that danced off the mirrored walls.  "This is a bit more glitzy than I'm used to," allowed the 75-year old governor.

Female tourists are avoiding India and canceling trips there after violent rapes made headlines around the world, according to a business association based in New Delhi. The number of tourists coming to India has fallen 25% since December, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India found in its recent survey of 1,200 tour operators around the country -- a trend that frustrates government plans to ramp up the number of tourists by 12% every year. Women are even more likely to steer clear of India: The flow of female travelers has plunged 35% as women from Britain, Canada and the United States scrap tours they had already booked, local businesses told the group.

Spending by international travelers visiting the U.S. remains on record pace, according to new federal statistics. International visitors spent $14.4 billion in January, an 11% increase from the same month in 2012, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Monday. Since the Great Recession, the travel and tourism industries have rebounded at a much faster pace than many other areas of the economy, according to government statistics. In 2012, spending by international visitors reached a record $168.1 billion, an increase of nearly 10% compared with the previous year, according to the Department of Commerce.

PETRA, Jordan--After four days of difficult Middle East diplomacy, President Obama headed home Saturday after playing tourist at the elaborate ruins of Petra, an ancient city carved from sheer rock faces of surrounding mountains. The remains of monasteries, burial tombs and baths from the Nabatean civilization more than 2,000 years ago are the pride of Jordan, Obama's final stop in the region. The archaeological park attracts half a million visitors a year, and Obama, dressed in khaki slacks and a Navy windbreaker, seemed as awestruck as any other tourist.

Thousands of curious well-wishers braved driving rain and hecklers Thursday to see the new Underground Atlanta tourist complex, a $142-million attempt to bring night life back to the downtown business district. "We thought the rain would keep everyone away, but look who's here," said art gallery manager Charmain Guzman as customers streamed into the three-tiered, 12-acre complex of restaurants and stores that is built partly under the city's downtown streets. Mayor Andrew Young was heckled by advocates for the homeless when he took the stage to officially open the project.

A tourist yacht with a crew of seven has been hijacked by Somali pirates near the Seychelles islands off Africa's east coast, officials said. The Indian Ocean Explorer had dropped off its contingent of tourists before it was seized, said Kirk Green, director of Aquatours, the London-based operator that books diving tours on the yacht. Green said he was told of the hijacking Wednesday by the British Navy and thought the boat had been taken then. But the U.S. Navy says the ship was taken either Friday or Saturday.

Mexico ranked 10th among the world's most popular tourist destinations, according to the latest estimate by a United Nations agency. But the country's head of tourism said she fears Mexico might drop a couple of spots, falling out of the top 10 list. "We have indications that we may drop one or two places, but we're not sure because the figures aren't ours, they are from the World Tourism Organization," Mexico's Tourism Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu told the Associated Press Monday.

BORREGO SPRINGS, Calif. - Locals call it "The Miracle of March. " If spring rains and temperatures are just right, the forbidding mountains and parched badlands here are transformed into dazzling panoramas of wildflowers that draw thousands of tourists. The crowds provide a major boost to Borrego Springs, a community of about 3,500 permanent residents in the heart of 640,000-acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. When blossoms abound - every five to seven years or so - visitors spend freely on gasoline, groceries, souvenirs, sun hats and cold drinks as they seek directions to "flower hot spots.