Despite recent criticism in a viral Reddit thread suggesting Niagara Falls has been a disappointing stop for travellers, the mayor of the Canadian city insists the region is not that bad, providing “a buffet of fun and excitement.”
Jim Diodati says he doesn’t typically like to read negative feedback about the city, but admits he’s in the know about the posts that alluded to the city as being tourist trap.
“We’ve come a long way, we’ve got a long way to go and we’re working on so many amazing things,” Diodati told Global News Radio 640 Toronto.
“But all day long, we’re the number-one leisure destination in Canada. One of the most recognizable natural wonders of the world.”
As of Tuesday, the thread, which asks, “What city disappointed you the most when visiting?” now has close to 7,000 comments and 6,000 upvotes.
Tops among the discussions is Atlantic City, in which many a contributor were disheartened by the fact it wasn’t the east coast version of Las Vegas.
However, the Falls got its share of disapproval, with so-called tourist traps in a setting containing one of the greatest wonders of the world.
“I thought it would be a national park. The whole place just felt like a giant shopping mall,” and, “…once you’re done looking…it’s just tourist traps and lotsa drunk people,” are just some of the remarks bestowed on the attraction.
Diodati suggests the experience somewhat mimics a kid visiting a TV studio where one envisions a grandiose site with a large studio audience, when typically it’s not.
“They’ve imagined this thing to be just unicorns and rainbows,” Diodati said.
“We do have the rainbow part, not the unicorn part, but definitely a lot of the time expectations are hard to meet when it’s your imagination.”
Pre-pandemic, the Canadian and U.S. sides of Niagara Falls combined to draw close 22 million people annually. The Canadian city gets the bulk of those visits at about 14 million.
The numbers consistently put the attraction in the top 10 of world rankings, according farandwide.com
The waterway is actually a culmination of three waterfalls sharing space between Ontario and New York State draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, with more than 168,000 cubic metres (6 million cubic feet) of water going over every minute.
The largest is Horseshoe Falls, also known as Canadian Falls.
Although the bulk of the thread’s comments don’t flatter the Falls experience, not all were disappointed during their visit.
“I love Niagara Falls….only ever been to Canadian side…never got bored always an awesome time…not sure what your talking about,” and, “The Falls themselves are worth the trip, especially if you get on the boat’s to get up close to them. It’s spectacular,” are what some supporters said.
The city’s mayor says there’s lots of nature other than the Falls in the region which includes 43 kilometres (26 miles) of parks and waterways.
“There’s something for everyone. So depending on if you’re looking for wineries, golf, if you want to just take in the beautiful natural wonder or shop and dine,” Diodati said.