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xtruss · 11 months

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Loch Ness, a deep freshwater lake in northern Scotland, is one of several destinations that draws tourists with rumors of cryptids, or mythical creatures. Stories of a long-necked, swimming monster, nicknamed “Nessie,” have been circulating this lake for nearly a hundred years. Photograph By Jonathan William Cohen, Getty Images

How Nessie and the Yeti Birthed a Global Cryptid-chasing Industry

From the mists of Loch Ness to the wilds of Australia, fantastical beasts are spawning a lucrative—and controversial—form of tourism.

— By Ronan O’Connell | Saturday June 24, 2023

They supposedly lurk in remote lakes, hide in dense forests, and roam snowy mountains. Yet despite being refuted by science, cryptids—fantastical beasts that probably don’t exist—have awed and terrified humans for centuries.

West Africa has the swamp-dwelling creature Ninki Nanka, Japan the monstrous Akkorokamui octopus, and Ireland the carnivorous Dobhar-chú dog-otter hybrid. But the mythical beings that seem to intrigue travelers the most remain Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster, the Himalayan Yeti, Australia’s Yowie, and North America’s Bigfoot. The last, a Chewbacca-like man-ape, helps generate over $140 million annually for the U.S. economy, according to the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

These cryptids have inspired festivals, movies, podcasts, and a niche field of study called cryptozoology, the search for magical creatures. They are the focus of boat cruises and wilderness excursions and lend their names to bars, hotels, restaurants, and even an airline. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, one Scottish company spent nearly $3 million on a new visitor center linked to the legendary serpent of Loch Ness.

Whether people believe in cryptids or not, cryptotourism offers travelers the opportunity to explore under-the-radar destinations from a unique perspective. Here’s how communities from Europe to Australia and Nepal are leaning into their mystical appeal to help their tourism industries recover from the pandemic.

A modern Legend Emerges

The world’s best-known cryptid is probably “Nessie,” the massive marine creature rumored to haunt the 800-foot-deep waters of Loch Ness. Since its first alleged sighting some 1,400 years ago, the Loch Ness Monster has stirred perpetual ripples of controversy.

This 1934 Photo of the Loch Ness Monster drew worldwide interest to Scotland. Despite the image being exposed as a hoax in 1994, hundreds of travelers visit the loch each year in hopes of spotting the alleged beast. To date, more than a thousand people have claimed to have seen Nessie. Photograph By Keystone, Getty Images

Irish missionary St. Columba first wrote about the mythical beast in 565 A.D. Allegedly, Nessie injured a swimmer and was poised to harm another when Columba intervened and berated the beast until it retreated into the lake’s gloomy waters. Nessie spottings occurred from time to time over the following centuries, further feeding the myth.

In 1934 this local legend went viral when an English doctor captured a photograph of what he claimed was Nessie, its long neck and bulbous head seemingly protruding from the lake. The image triggered a string of events that turned Loch Ness from a little-known location into one of Europe’s most famous lakes.

Monster tours of Loch Ness began soon after, says Gary Campbell, who runs the official Loch Ness Monster sightings website, on which he’s logged 1,143 encounters in 26 years. By 2019 Nessie tourism was a $47 million industry.

The pandemic hasn’t diminished Nessie’s allure. In the first eight months of 2022, 149,000 visitors took lake tours with Loch Ness by Jacobite, according to Freda Newton, the company’s managing director.

“Everyone wants to believe in Nessie. We see it every day on the faces of visitors,” she says. “There is palpable excitement when people board our boats that maybe, just maybe, they’ll get a glimpse of our most elusive friend.”

Gordon Menzies, who runs Castle Cruises Loch Ness, estimates more than 70 percent of his customers visit because of Nessie. He has spent a lifetime pondering this legend. “I think it highly unlikely that a prehistoric creature still exists in here,” Menzies says. “But given the dark peaty waters of the loch, I see no reason to consider it is impossible for something which we have not yet identified to exist.”

Lore vs. Science

Though Nessie has become somewhat kitschy, Australia’s most prominent cryptid, the Yowie, is embedded deep in the lore of one of the world’s oldest communities, the Australian Aboriginals.

This drawing depicts the Yowie, an ape-like creature from Aboriginal folklore said to inhabit the remote reaches of the Australian Outback. Photograph By Chales Walker Collection, Alamy Stock Photos

After the British colonized the country in the late 1700s, the Aboriginals delivered them an eerie warning. The verdant forests they stole camouflaged hairy, 10-foot-tall, 800-pound bipedal monsters. “Yowies are respected but also avoided by Aboriginal people, because they can be dangerous,” says Tony Healy, coauthor of several books on Australian cryptids. “The [Aboriginal] elders I spoke to see Yowies as something like a guardian spirit of the landscape.”

The earliest rumored Yowie sighting was in the 1830s, when a European man fired his musket at one of these beasts on Kangaroo Island, off the coast of South Australia. There have been hundreds of supposed encounters since, according to Australian cryptozoologist Gary Opit, who has researched the Yowie for 50 years. They were concentrated on the Great Divide, a 2,300-mile-long series of mountain ranges and plateaus that runs north from Victoria through New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland.

An environmental scientist, Opit leads Yowie tours into this wilderness. About 90 percent of participants are foreign tourists keen on exploring the isolated locations of reported Yowie sightings, like Mount Warning in northern NSW, and nearby Springbrook Mountain. Despite being discussed for thousands of years, Yowies only became a tourist draw in the past decade, he says.

Some 5,000 miles away, in Kathmandu, Nepal, cryptotourism is better established, reaching back to the 1950s. It centers on the Yeti. Up to six feet tall and similar in appearance to the Yowie and Bigfoot, this legendary creature allegedly prowls the snowy peaks of the Himalayas and is a prominent figure in the folklore of Nepal, Bhutan, India, and Tibet.

Several Southeast Asian countries use the Yeti, similar to North America’s Bigfoot, in their destination branding, as in this 2014 Bhutanese stamp. Photograph By Doreen Fiedler, Picture Alliance / Getty Images

Its tale is 6,000 years old, says Ram Kumar Panday, a Nepali geographer and author of multiple books about the Yeti. But the furry beast was a regional fairytale until British explorer Eric Shipton claimed to have photographed a 13-inch-long footprint, hominoid in appearance, in the snow of Nepal’s Menlung Glacier, west of Mount Everest, Panday says.

This image haunted newspapers and televisions worldwide. Explorers soon inundated the Himalayas, competing to detect the cryptid. The deluge of foreign visitors prompted the Nepal government to issue strict regulations on Yeti hunts, which required those involved to only photograph and not harm any creatures they encountered.

Over the following decades, the Yeti became a powerful tourism brand in Nepal. This beast’s foot forms the logo of the domestic carrier, Yeti Airlines, while hotels, restaurants, cafés, and tour companies profit off its name. In early 2020, the Nepal government made the cryptid a centerpiece of its tourism campaign, placing dozens of Yeti statues at key attractions.

As an intrinsic part of Nepal’s lore, the Yeti is a worthwhile tourist draw, Panday says. Travelers intrigued by the beast should trek to Mahalangur Himal. This wild Himalayan region, home to several of the world’s tallest peaks, including Mount Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, and Makalu, is the Yeti’s key habitat and the location of most of its sightings, he says.

Visitors to this region can learn dozens of Yeti legends from its Sherpa communities. Ancient scrolls kept in Himalayan monasteries reveal the tale of how the Yeti was born to a Tibetan mother and a Mahalangur giant ape, Panday explains.

Mahalangur Himal, best known for some of the world’s tallest peaks, is said to be a popular site for spotting the Yeti. Photograph By iStock, Getty Images

Other Nepalis are more skeptical. Veteran Kathmandu tour guide Sushil Nepal says even as a child he viewed Yetis as a sham. Now, when his customers ask about the monster, he tells them it’s widely considered a myth. Nepal says he dislikes cryptotourism, which steals focus from the country’s remarkable architecture and ancient traditions.

“I don’t think the Yeti is a valuable tool to promote Nepal tourism,” he says. “We have a lot of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Nepal should focus on its rich natural diversity.”

Many researchers are similarly dubious about this cryptid. In 2017, DNA analysis of alleged Yeti teeth, hair, and fur, published by Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found this mythical beast may have been inspired by real animals—the Himalayan black and brown bears.

Academics have also offered scientific explanations for Australian cryptids and the Loch Ness Monster, yet these legends persist. “People have always been fascinated by things in nature which confuse us, things which we just don’t understand,” Opit says. “That’s not going to change any time soon.”

— Ronan O’Connell is an Australian Journalist and Photographer who shuttles between Ireland, Thailand, and Western Australia.

#Loch Ness Monster #Nessie and the Yeti #Aboriginal

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cryptotalemedia · 2 years

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Binance Introduces Dedicated Marketplace to Foster Crypto Tourism

#Binance Introduces Dedicated Marketplace to Foster #CryptoTourism #CryptoTale #Cryptonews #Crypto #Web3

According to a recent announcement, Binance has added a new section to its marketplace just for customers looking to spend their cryptocurrencies while traveling. This section compiles all of the binance market’s standalone travel applications into one convenient location. Binance eyeing the tourism sector? The announcement names a few of the popular mini-apps that users will have access to,…

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#Binance News #Blockchain News #Crypto news

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nerdforcrypto · 2 years

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The first Binance Travel trips will be to Thailand, where users will be able to use their Binance Coin (BNB) to pay for their travel expenses. The company

-Binance has announced the first-ever crypto-sponsored vacation – ‘cryptotourism’. -Demonstrating how efficient, secure and simple travel is in a web3 world when one forgoes traditional currency and globetrot exclusively using crypto, Binance has teamed up with leading travel influencers, Lauren Bullen and Jack Morris, on a global crypto-only scavenger hunt that includes giving away $50,000 in…

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#blockchain #crypto #cryptocurrency #web3

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cryptoknowmics · 4 years

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📢 Dash Review Report

We informed our inner circle members about the dash research and they were able to take their positions on spot markets. sometime after that we published the report on our social channels and then our open community also took Spot and Futures positions. soon after this DASH started to pump and Spot positions made 80% profit whereas futures and derivatives users were able to make up to 150% profits. the best part about this is that it’s pure research driven prediction and hence the risk exposure was below 10%. this is not like any other trade signal which is based on charts, this is purely based on understanding and research about the product that we have from the last one and a half years. Read More Dash Review Report 👉 https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/dash-review-report

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thomashauzenberger · 5 years

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Meet me tomorrow #jtfoxxofficial in #dubai #training #mindset #business #wealth #skills #2019goals #lionswealth #bitcoin #cryptotour https://www.instagram.com/p/BtJnyUPHrIF/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=pgy62plq9zup

#jtfoxxofficial #dubai #training #mindset #business #wealth #skills #2019goals #lionswealth #bitcoin #cryptotour

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ubikalo · 6 years

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VENEZUELA (English) Thank God for the opportunity to visit my beloved country, it is a true blessing, that is why in addition to thanking God, to life and I thank @mirenanyelamujica for having been an important, special and essential part of this trip. I will be publishing some photos of that route that took me through 11 states (provinces / states) of Venezuela and where I was in 5 beautiful and very different cities. Caracas, cement valley guarded by a giant guardian full of nature the Warairarepano (Avila). Maracaibo, capital of Zulia, large city bathed by the waters of the lake and with uncountable structures such as the bridge over the lake (8 kms of construction), the Basilica de la Chinita (beautiful church that venerates the patron saint of the marabinos (or maracuchos), the only revolving restaurant in Venezuela (yes, it turns while enjoying its menu) San Cristobal, friendly city, capital of Tachira, with beautiful surprises and spectacular people .... Huka Pastry (@hukapastry) a place where the calories do not matter, the majestic hotel El Castillo de la Fantasia and many incredible places that I will show you here . Merida, a state and a city that with its climate embraces the whole world, what incredible days I spent there, places, people and the impressive and unique installation of the Teleferico de Merida, the highest and longest in the world, where you ascend from 1550 meters above sea level until 4765 meters above sea level in wagons that recover 12.5 kilometers of clabes in an incredible way. Valencia, state capital Carabobo a city full of entrepreneurs and located in the center of the country, nearby cities such as Bejuma where are the best burgers I have ever tasted (@dondeelyou) and Puerto Cabello a city that is full of history , hundreds of years of history ... Thank you to follow me and share my publications, especially where I show corners of this wonderful country called Venezuela! #fotografia #photography #nikon #travel #viaje #venezuela #merida #zulia #tachira #caracas #valencia #food #comida #turismo #tuorism #ubikalo #tours #postres #deserts #retratos #portraits #pictures #anaco #bitcoin #criptotravelers #cryptotourism

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generationexorcist · 5 years

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Fantastic Cryptids And Where To Find Them

Vacations come in many shapes and forms. Among the more unusual is the growing trend for cryptotourism, which the International Cryptozoology Museum estimates generates $140million annually in the US alone.

What, I hear you asking, is cryptotourism when it’s at home (or on vacation)? Simply, it’s people dedicating their vacations to the search for cryptids – creatures whose existence is yet to be proved by science. And it’s a surprisingly popular strand of the holiday industry, with some of the big hitters becoming integral to a country’s tourism income. Scotland, for example, rakes in around £60 million a year just from Loch Ness Monster tourism.

Interested to find out which cryptids are the most sought after, Holiday Pirates teamed up with the International Cryptozoology Museum to uncover ten of the world’s most elusive and where to find them. It revealed lesser-known beasts like the Mokele-mbembe of the Congo Basin and the Ahool of Java alongside more famous names like the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and the Yeti. So if you’re looking to do something a little different on your next vacation, here are ten destinations you may not have considered before…

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#cryptids

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ludovic-delion · 3 years

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le lancement de la monnaie virtuelle officiellement en Thaïlande

Tourism Authority of Thailand plans to create its own TAT Coin utility token

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is currently exploring the prospects of creating its own utility token called the TAT coin. The proposed launch of the TAT coin (named after the acronym for Tourism Authority of Thailand) is currently navigating Thailand's complex legal framework and regulations.

In fact, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has already begun discussions with the Stock Exchange of Thailand regarding its ambitious plans to launch the TAT token. TAT's discussions with the stock exchange would also highlight how the transfer of value will be achieved without the introduction of speculative aspects of trading. Reports indicate that the TAT token "would involve the transfer of vouchers into digital tokens that could help traders achieve greater liquidity."

TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said that advanced technologies, including crypto-currencies, have a lot to offer to Thailand's tourism industry and he appreciates the potential of these technologies. The Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand also believes that the introduction of crypto-currencies into Thailand's tourism industry will attract crypto-currency holders and, in turn, boost competitiveness in the short term.

Yuthasak Supasorn said:

"We need to prepare the digital infrastructure and digital culture for our tourism operators to start cryptotourism, as the traditional business model might not be able to keep up with the new changes."

Reports highlight that TAT coin's long-term ambitions would allow the Tourism Authority of Thailand to partner with local exchange Bitkub to develop a tourism platform that will feature their utility token, TAT coin, and potentially NFTs (non-fungible tokens). It is important to note that NFTs are still illegal in Thailand, although the country is among the first few countries in Southeast Asia to pass crypto-currency legislation.

The Thai government announced on Monday that from November 1, 2021, it will waive quarantines for vaccinated travellers in Bangkok and the country's nine other provinces. Although the government is optimistic that the economy will recover, the World Bank's lead economist for Thailand, Kiatipong Ariyapruchya, said:

"The Thai economy will probably need more time to rebound due to the delay in the return of foreign tourists."

In its latest economic growth forecast for Thailand, the World Bank has reduced the economy's growth forecast to 1% in 2021. According to reports, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is considering using crypto-currencies and utility tokens to boost the economy in the short term by attracting foreign tourists holding crypto-currencies and other digital assets.

#tailande #russia #usa #china #india

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blockcain-news · 4 years

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Bitcoin interest spikes in Africa as region sees rising inflation

... as cited by the Google Trends data, Africa's crypto market is thriving. Talking about the latest OKEx Africa Cryptotour, the cryptocurrency exchange's ... from Google Alert - Crypto https://ift.tt/361eiY4 via IFTTT

#Google Alert - Crypto #crypto #news

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catastrophesblood · 5 years

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The Curious Rise of 'Cryptotourism' – in Search of Animals That Don't Exist

So popular is cryptotourism that travel tech company HolidayPirates has developed curated travel deals to the homelands of cryptids around the world, ... from Google Alert - travel agency https://ift.tt/2TKUNx8

#IFTTT #Google Alert - travel agency

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mhuntington7 · 1 year

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STRANGE TRAVELS HQ 2023 - Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Michael Huntington - 2023. @Huntington_Strange_Travels #StrangeTravels #MichaelHuntington #HuntingtonFamily #HuntingtonAdventures #HuntingtonBoys #UnusualFamilyOutings #AviationMuseums #SpaceMuseums #XPlanes #UFOs #UFOTravel #FamousUFOSpots #UFOHistory #UAP #Paratravel #Cryptids #Cryptotourism #Bigfoot #Mothman #HauntedTravels #Ghosts #Haunted #UrbanLegends #Folklore #Paranormal #RoadsideAttractions #SetJetting #FilmLocations #NativeMounds #FuturoHouse (at Cape Girardeau, Missouri) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoS3ctNvfta/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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jobyboughey1 · 5 years

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Huge start to our crypto tour in the uk and big meetings. Now for day 2 and a fully booked day. #Letsdothis #cryptotour #entrepreneur #businessmeetings #backinbusiness https://www.instagram.com/p/BqmR4YTgw4u/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1pyr7pn3nsw5l

#letsdothis #cryptotour #entrepreneur #businessmeetings #backinbusiness

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emmanuelvj · 6 years

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#cryptocurrency #cryptotour #forex #mercadosbursatiles Si a ti igual que a mi te mueve la 💡 de establecer una mejor opción de avance en tu economía, no puedes perderte lo que nuestro #embassador Global @german_castelo y nuestro magnífico #diamante Noé Figero te tienen este 29 Enero 2018. Aprovecha y cambia tus opciones en conjunto con estilo de vida

#embassador #cryptocurrency #forex #mercadosbursatiles #diamante #cryptotour

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bitrss-news · 5 years

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BitRss Crypto News

#Crypto #News: "MEETUP: September 21, 2019 OKEX Brings the CryptoTour Africa 2019 to Kenya" https://t.co/K2pP6KIh7D

— BitRss News (@RssBit) September 9, 2019

#Cryptocurrency News BitRss.com

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aioinstagram · 6 years

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Yahoo Finance Morning Brief: Six market themes to track in 2018 is Trending on Tuesday January 2 2018 http://www.aioinstagram.com/yahoo-finance-morning-brief-six-market-themes-to-track-in-2018-is-trending-on-tuesday-january-2-2018/

Yahoo Finance says: Morning Brief: Six market themes to track in 2018