Tourist attractions become victims of govt shutdown in US

After taking on Tojo and Hitler American WWII veterans were not letting any Washington shutdown prevent them from visiting their fallen comrades war memorials.

Ninety-two elderly survivors had come thousands of kilometres from Mississippi to the capital, and it seems had some help getting through the barriers from some congressmen and their staff.

“We take great pride in dealing with our visitors and explaining to them these memorials and monuments. And it’s hard for us to be off and to see that people can’t get in to them,” said a watching Park Service employee.

It was the same story in New York where the Statue of Liberty stood aloof and tantalizingly out of reach for tourists. In the meantime thousands of federal workers were tidying their desks and going home, leaving their offices empty, and not knowing when their next paycheck would come.

“There are very disappointed tourists here. The statue of Liberty is one of hundreds of national sites across the country that is closed because of the government shutdown. Now the ferries here are still running giving the tourists a photo-op but they’re not actually able to go to Liberty Island and some tourists tell me that they have waited their all lives to come to NY City just to get an up-close look at the statue. Now because of this shutdown they’ve missed their chance,” says ABC News’ Marci Gonzalez, for euronews in New York.


/AzerTAg/