Many tourists looking for a lively market at Buckingham Palace went home disappointed. The Royal Collection Trust confirmed that “there will not be a Christmas market at Buckingham Palace.” Instead, tourists were greeted by closed gates and a moat-like lake of buzzing mosquitoes in front of Queen Elizabeth’s famed royal castle.
While Buckingham Palace doesn’t do a traditional Christmas market, there’s a Christmas-themed temporary market stall and shop Royal Mews gift shop. Best of all, it’s just a walk from the palace gates! This storefront features a wide selection of Christmas gifts fit for royalty. Of course, our visitors can take a bit of royal-inspired magic home with them! A cute little hut outside the Royal Mews gift shop sells delicious hot beverages. It’s the ideal place for anyone walking by to stop and enjoy!
This lack of a Christmas market has led to significant misunderstanding. Unfortunately, this confusion has only been exacerbated by the virality of AI-generated images on platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. These images depict a bustling market scene with broad paths lined with wooden huts, twinkling lights, and adorned Christmas trees, creating what some users describe as “a beautiful winter wonderland atmosphere” within the palace forecourt.
Unfortunately, these depictions are entirely fictional and have duped countless travelers. The influx of AI-created imagery hasn’t helped with travel planning confusion. Adventurers have ended up climbing to the highest peaks in Japan, or even trying to find the Eiffel Tower in Beijing.
Amsterdam Experiences, a local tour company, have fielded a wave of inquiries from customers clamoring to step foot in Dutch places that never existed. This increase is driven by deceptive digital materials. Recent waves of elderly tourists have inundated Perak, Malaysia. In fact, they were inspired by one of our videos, which featured a virtual reality cable car ride that you can’t take.
Together, these incidents help to demonstrate the potentially dangerous consequences of trusting an AI tool’s output when making travel choices. Now travelers are being warned to proceed with care and confirm that places are open before going there.
“Never travel anywhere without first verifying that that place actually exists.” – Travel Expert