 |
16. Temple
Square, Salt Lake City, Utah:
5
million
The Mormon church's headquarters are
here, but Temple Square is more than
just a destination for Latter Day
Saints. In 2008, visitation to the
square, which is
festooned with lights for the
holiday season, numbered around five
million, making it Utah's top
tourist destination. |
 |
17. Universal
Studios Hollywood, Calif.:
4.7
million
The flagship of the Universal theme
park empire calls itself "The
Entertainment Capital of L.A.," a
bold claim in a city known to call
itself the entertainment capital of
the world. Nearly five million
stargazers and thrill seekers came
in 2007 to tour the sets of
"Desperate
Housewives," "King Kong" and other
Universal productions. |
 |
18.
Metropolitan Museum, New York, N.Y.:
4.7
million
Founded in 1870 (and moved to its
current home in Central Park in
1880), the Met's vast stores of art
include more than two million works
in its two-million-square-foot
building. In the Museum's 2008
fiscal year, 4.7 million visitors
came to peruse some of the world's
greatest art collections, a 200,000
increase from the pervious year. |
 |
19. Cape Cod
National Seashore, Mass.:
4.64
million
This 44,600-acre preserve of
coastline in Massachusetts jumped
ahead of the Grand Canyon in this
2008's National
Park Service ranking, with 4.64
million visitors (compared with 4.4
million in 2007). The popular
vacation area
includes lighthouses, cranberry
bogs, dunes and forests alongside
hiking trails and sandy beaches. |
 |
20. Grand
Canyon, Ariz.:
4.43
million
This famous gorge was etched in
geologic time by the Colorado River
over a period of about 6 million
years. Tourists have arrived at a
much quicker rate since the canyon
achieved National Park status in
1919. The National Park Service
estimated 4.43 million visitors in
2008. |
|