We all adore having the seaside nearby. We all have our favourite places to be near the water and visit the beach or coastal beauty spot. And everyone probably has a top town or village nestled next to the waves.
But one seaside town in the UK once found itself in an unexpected company when a travel website grouped it with the likes of North Korea and Syria as some of the worst holiday destinations.
Despite being one of Britain’s beloved seaside resorts and attracting close to 4 million visitors each year, Skegness, Lincolnshire, didn’t charm the folks at Destination Tips, who placed it among the world’s top ten no-go areas for tourists in 2017.
Describing ‘Skeggy’ rather unflatteringly, the website stated it was a “pile of dirt”.
Their assessment didnt mince words: “Once thought of as a quaint seaside town in northern England, Skegness is now a pile of dirt bordering the North Sea with a run-down amusement park idly resting on the land.”
The harsh critique ruffled feathers locally, inciting a robust defense from the then-mayor, Dick Edginton. He didn’t pull any punches when he condemned the comparison as “absolutely offensive”, reports the Express.
At the time, Mr Edginton countered: “There seems to be certain people who seem to do nothing but denigrate British seaside resorts.”
He defended Skegnesss reputation robustly: “Skegness is one of the best resorts in the country with the highest visitor numbers. There are record levels of investment in the resort at the moment which shows confidence in business, both from local and national companies.”
Challenging the credibility of such a ranking, Mr Edginton expounded, “How anyone can compare Skegness to North Korea – one of the most oppressive regimes – is absolutely offensive. These comments should be held up to ridicule and contempt.”
Kyiv in Ukraine has been named the worst place to visit, according to Destination Tips. Haiti’s Port-au-Prince came in second, a city still plagued by gang violence, making it one of the world’s most dangerous countries.
Syria’s Damascus was next on the list, a country left in crisis following years of conflict since 2011.
The full list of Destination Tips’ worst places to visit is as follows
Kiev, Ukraine.
Port au Prince, Haiti.
Damascus, Syria.
Mogadishu, Somalia.
Pyongyang, North Korea.
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Bogota, Colombia.
Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Skegness, Lincolnshire.
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.