The most visited landmark in America
The question seems to have a straight forward answer. However, there are actually multiple interpretations of the question’s criteria. What exactly constitutes a visit? Since the definition of a landmark is surprisingly unquantifiable, how do we determine if a location is truly a landmark?
Having researched thousands of statistics for Quora, I’ve learned that even the simplest questions are never that simple. So here are a few possible answers.
Based strictly on visitors
This answer might surprise you, but it’s probably Father Duffy Square in New York City. Never heard of it? Follow the logic. On an annual basis, the Las Vegas Strip is the most visited tourist destination in the world, while Times Square is a close second, so this is a good place to start (although tourism isn’t a necessity).
But since you’ve stipulated “landmark” rather than “location” I wouldn’t call either of those landmarks. Instead, Times Square and the Vegas Strip are actually massive areas that act as a collection of many landmarks. To truly answer the question, we need to get more specific.
Based on specific pedestrian counts block by block in the vicinity of both Times Square and the Vegas Strip, the most traveled area of either one of those is New York’s Broadway on the pedestrian walkway between 46th and 47th streets. Based on the most recent non-pandemic year of 2019 (when visitor statistics were normal), 71,464,207 pedestrians walked through that specific area, far more than any other part of Times Square (some parts of Times Square see less than 10% of that), and more than any portion of the Vegas Strip.
The only landmark, per se, on that most-traveled block - aside from ordinary Manhattan buildings - would be Father Duffy Square. You might recognize the famous red steps that were installed in the square in 2008, easily recognizable as well as a popular photographic background for tourists in Times Square. The visitors to this section of the famed intersection are even 18% higher than the notable One Times Square building where the ball drops on New Years Eve three blocks south of the steps.
Now, add in the number of pedestrians and vehicular passengers traveling along 7th Avenue on the other side of Father Duffy Square, and you’re up to at least 84,629,193 annual visits! That would be the most logical answer for the most visited landmark in the United States, and subsequently the world.
But what exactly is a visit?
The only issue with these statistics is that the pedestrian counts include a lot of repetition, some of the same people leaving that block entirely, only to return later. Is each passing of Duffy Square truly considered a “visit?” Mathematically, yes. Places with paid admission are different, counting a visit as each time you pass through their gates. But a “visit” to a public place would be any instance of approaching a certain area before departing it. Any repeat pedestrians to Duffy Square would have left the entire block before returning. Even if that’s a few minutes, it’s a separate visit.
Example: If two hours elapses between your “visit” to the Eiffel Tower, that would constitute two visits to the landmark (mathematically). If that increment is shrunk to 30 minutes, it’s still two visits. If you shrink that to two minutes, having left the Eiffel Tower and walked around the block with the structure out of site only to return, it’s still two visits. We can’t play the game of how short of an increment turns two visits into one visit (I’ve taught calculus for enough decades to know that). So we have to trust the statistics. Leaving a block in New York would definitely put you out of site of low-lying steps and a statue of Francis Patrick Duffy. Any return later would be another visit, even if you don’t actually look at the statute nor the red steps. There are plenty of distractions in Times Square, but we won’t remove “visits” just because someone didn’t actually look at the landmark, lest we get into disqualifying all sight-impaired people.
Based on unique visitors
I’m perfectly content with the first answer. However, if you’d prefer statistics based on unique visitors, not repeat visitors, the answer is slightly different.
In 2019, it is estimated that 42,484,665 unique individuals visited the Vegas Strip in one year, most of whom passed the Fountains of Bellagio based on statistical analysis. Meanwhile, only 41,983,200 unique individuals paid a visit to any part of Times Square, eliminating the repeat pedestrians. Even if all of them walked past Duffy Square, they wouldn’t surpass the visitors to the famous fountains that define the Vegas Strip. So the Fountains of Bellagio win the competition for the American landmark visited by the most “individual human beings” on an annual basis.
Based on paid visitors
The most visited destination in the world that requires paid admission is easily Magic Kingdom Park in Bay Lake, Florida, part of the Walt Disney World complex in the Orlando area. In 2019, a record 20,961,056 visitors paid to enter the famed Magic Kingdom. Of course, public spaces versus private admission wasn’t a consideration for a landmark, so this paragraph was simply for fun.
However …
What about train stations and airports?
By the strict definition, a landmark is a feature or object that is easily recognizable. Thus, it isn’t a tremendous stretch to consider train stations or airports to be landmarks. However, I’m more inclined to consider train stations and airports to be transportation facilities - hubs that allow people to move from one place to another - rather than landmarks.
The issue I have is that many of these look roughly the same on the exterior and wouldn’t be identifiable unless you were a local who recognized the facade, nor would they be recognizable to most people in a photograph unless the name of the facility appeared in the picture. So the interpretation of landmark gets really fuzzy here. Some American stations and airports do have very distinguishing features, but none of those are in contention for the most visited.
Would you recognize the photograph below as the busiest airport in the world? I’ve been there a billion times and I’m not sure I would immediately distinguish it from other American airports. They all look the same, defeating the very definition of a landmark.
However, if you’ll allow airports, then Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (pictured above) would be your winner. They host 110,531,300 annual passengers. If you analyze traffic statistics and include the number of people who pass through the airport grounds in vehicles, the annual total is more like 123,780,800. That doesn’t include people who can see the airport from the three interstates that flank the grounds of Hartsfield-Jackson, including I-75, I-85, and I-285, as those aren’t really “visits” to the airport.
It’s enough to top the 102.6 million annual passengers and vehicular visitors to LAX, and far more than the 88.6 million annual visitors to New York’s Grand Central Terminal, the busiest train station in America. It’s also more “visits” than Duffy Square receives, and more “individuals” than the Fountains of Bellagio.
So take your pick of the three:
- Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (123,780,800 annual individuals, but not universally recognized as a landmark)
- Father Duffy Square (84,629,193 annual visits including repetition)
- Fountains of Bellagio (42,484,665 annual individuals)
The world record holder
Internationally, Shinjuku Train Station in Tokyo (below) receives around 1.3 billion annual visitors! If you consider a train station or an airport to be a landmark, then this is probably the most visited landmark in the world! But again, although I’ve visited this station dozens of times, I’m not sure I would instantly distinguish this exterior from other stations. Interestingly, only 22% of those visitors to Shinjuku are passengers.
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