Tourists have been accused of travelling to New York to gawk at the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy.
AP reported this week that residents of the city have been upset by visitors coming not to help or bring food and supplies but to drive slowly through devastated neighbourhoods and take pictures of powerboats on people’s front lawns.
AP reporters spoke with a number of Staten Island residents who had seen these new hurricane gawkers gathering like storm clouds as locals waited for power, heat and insurance agents to make sense of their jigsaw homes. Some were bemused, others were downright angry.
"The gawking was amazing last week," resident Joanne McClenin told Fox News. "It was kind of offensive as a homeowner, because I felt violated."
A decline in this latest form of tourism’s numbers should be in direct correlation to the increase in normalcy as New York’s shoreline neighbourhoods continue to recover.
For now, unfortunately, there is still too much to see.
By Gretchen Kelly, TravelMole US editor
