Philadelphia tour guides: believable?
Say it ain’t so, Philadelphia. Can’t you trust the tour guides?
Hospitality officials say it’s a growing problem as they cope with the city’s most valuable asset: its history.
They complain it’s being tarnished by unreliable tour guides who mix up dates and spice up biographies of famous founders like Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.
“The issue has sparked debate and a proposed ordinance to test and license guides,” said the AP.
“Bring it on,” said Jill Lawrence, a Colonial re-enactor who supports the idea. She said many of her interactions with tourists include correcting misinformation they’ve heard elsewhere — such as flag-maker Betsy Ross, a three-time widow, killed her husbands. Not true.
“These are things we hear over and over,” she said. “It would be terrific if we didn’t have to correct these rumors all day long.”
The Liberty Bell alone had 1.8 million visitors last year, and tourism in the region generated $10 billion.
If the ordinance is approved, Philadelphia would join a number of cities with similar regulations, including Washington, New Orleans and Charleston, South Carolina.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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