Tourism across the world is on the rise. Despite higher air fares, long queues at airports due to reduced staff and scheduled strikes, many seem bent on going ahead with holidays planned before the pandemic. Conversations about carbon footprint and green house gas emissions are set aside or ignored in what some experts have termed “revenge travel”.
Individuals want to travel no matter what. They want to see the world. Many are making use of their savings to visit the locations they had long wished to explore. Except some tourist attractions have closed down or are being relocated. The pandemic, in most cases, was the final blow to more than one cultural institution. Here are five attractions travelers won’t be able to visit in 2023.
1. Dublin Writers Museum, Ireland
When the pandemic arrived in March 2020, the Dublin Writers Museum announced that it would temporarily close its doors to visitors. This year, however, the decision became final. Fáilte Ireland, the national tourism body that owned and operated the museum, announced that it “no longer meets the expectation of the contemporary museum visitor”.
In a building built in the eighteenth century, the museum opened its doors in 1991. It was dedicated to Irish literature with authors as prominent as James Joyce, Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde. It aimed to promote literature and celebrate activities related to Irish life and the life and work of Irish writers.
Ireland has four Nobel Prize winners: Samuel Beckett, Georges Bernard Shaw, William Buttler Yeats and Seamus Heaney. The literature reflects the response to matters of sex, religion, politics and opinions of a social nature. There is a deep love of the rural world.
The museum described the history of Irish literature up to the great revival of the late 19th century with Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory, compiler of folklore, and W.B. Yeats. Other writers such as Jonathan Swift, with Gulliver’s Travels, provide an acid satire on politicians, society and humanity in general.
“We know from our work developing visitor attractions across the country that visitors consistently look for attractions that use modern and innovative storytelling that create impactful and immersive experiences,” Fáilte Ireland stated.
2. Museum of London
The Museum of London’s main site at London Wall will close as a visitor attraction in December 2022. The museum will relocate to West Smithfield where it will occupy market buildings that have lain derelict for over three decades – saving the historic General Market site for generations to come.
The opening of the new museum will see the historic General Market brought back to life for all Londoners to enjoy, opening up to millions more visitors and showcase more of The London Collection than ever before, giving Londoners and visitors to the capital the opportunity to explore London’s story.
The museum will open early and close late – reflecting London’s position as a 24-hour Global City. Extended opening hours on Friday and Saturday nights will attract visitors to West Smithfield throughout the weekend, and the new museum will support a host of independent small businesses around the perimeter of the General Market building.
The museum will explore key moments in London’s history and unpick what we think we know to reveal new insights. It will celebrate and challenge, it will consider big contemporary topics and themes that draw contrasts and connections between then and now – London in all its glory and with all its difficulties.
Thanks to Crossrail, it will be one of the world’s most accessible museums with Farringdon station just seconds away. It will be the only museum in the world to have a trainline running through the galleries with Thameslink trains travelling between King’s Cross and Blackfriars zipping through it every few minutes.
3. Train Street, Vietnam
In Hanoi there is a street in the historic center that stands out for being the most photographed of the whole city: it is in the district of Hoàn Kiếm and everyone knows it as Train Street.
It is a narrow street along which hardly a car would drive, but which has a train track that crosses it from end to end. On both sides there are homes and a multitude of businesses, especially cafes, which have become a tourist attraction in the city. On September 17, 2022, the authorities decided to revoke the licenses of all these establishments.
The reason behind this decision is the Railway Safety Law, a regulation that has been in force since 1990, but will now begin to apply to this street. Nguyễn Anh Quân, vice chairman of the Hoàn Kiếm District People’s Committee, explained to Vietnam News that “there are more than 30 coffee shops along the railway track passing through Hàng Bông, Cửa Đông, Cửa Nam, Hàng Mã and Đồng Xuân districts. All these businesses are violating the railway safety space and accidents are waiting to happen.”
That train is still operating normally and in the past there have been safety issues with tourists sitting or even lying on the tracks to take photos and upload them to social media.
4. Underground Museum, Los Angeles
In March of 2022, the Underground Museum announced that it was closing until further notice. “We simply do not have any answers right now. So, we will also be closing the museum until further notice. During this period, we encourage you to engage with the incredible art spaces all over our beloved Los Angeles,” Karon Davis wrote in a statement on the museum’s website.
Noah and Karon Davis created the museum with the goal of supporting artists of color. It was a vital community space for artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians, and activists. Noah Davis died in 2015 from a rare form of cancer, and his wife continued running the museum’s operation. According to CNN, high-profile celebrity fans like Beyonce, Tracee Ellis Ross and John Legend, supported the institution until it shut its doors in 2022.
5. 9/11 Tribute Museum, New York
On August 17th, the 9/11 Tribute Museum in New York closed its doors due to debts accumulated during the pandemic. It was a small establishment created by relatives of the victims of the attack on the Twin Towers
The museum, which opened in 2006, was located not far from the larger National September 11 Memorial Museum, which stands next to the memorial ponds built on the site of the Twin Towers.
The gallery, which featured a variety of artifacts and testimonials recounting the lives of those who lost their lives in the attacks more than two decades ago, was founded by widows of New York City Fire Department (FDNY) workers, an organization now known as the 9/11 Families Association.
