I keep seeing ‘No tourist cards please’ on people’s bio requests. What exactly is a tourist card please?
3 Likes
Probably just a site representative of a place that the “typical” tourist would like to see; the Eiffel Tower, for example.
4 Likes
I classify it as a postcard that shows a view of your city or country and the name of the locality is written on it.
4 Likes
This restriction is annoying because tourist cards may be all a lot of people have easy access to.
30 Likes
Having seen what it actually means, I agree - it is quite annoying. Thankfully I have a few non-tourist cards I can send.
3 Likes
Quite simply and originally, they are postcards that people would buy on their travels that they mail back home to family and friends. Of course, collectors like me love them because I can see and learn about places that I probably would never get mail from these places.
18 Likes
But on the other side of the coin: members also wish for cards that show a local/regional scene and have the location name printed on the front. So its good to keep a small variety of both tourist and non-tourist cards on hand
2 Likes
I think there are two types of tourist card.
The first is, as described above, views of an area, the Eiffel Tower, Uluru, Brooklyn Bridge.
The second type is kitsch - attractive people sun-bathing for anywhere with a beach, those all-black cards that say “XXXX at Night”, clogs in the Netherlands, cards shaped like the Queen in London.
Of course, kitsch is all in the eye of the beholder. I love the old photo-montage cards of jackalopes, or kangaroos surfing. But I don’t care for the other types of cards I mentioned.
5 Likes
Hi, you mean these cards? I like them and they can be also very political or have a special sense of humor!
5 Likes
Oh i didnt realize “tourist cards” were offensive to some. When I first started postcrossing I went out to local beaches and touristy places because I thought that is what people wanted. I hope that i didnt diappoint anyone. I have so many Florida touristy cards now. Gosh I hope I can find someone that enjoys them 
2 Likes
since Florida is such a tourist destination I think most would love a Florida tourist card (beaches, manatees, sea shells, Disney etc)
A few people say “Please no tourist cards” in their profiles. The vast majority of members are okay with them. I am running into the situation where I feel like sending other themes, but many people say they want “local” cards.
1 Like
Me too! I have gotten that more frequently this year. I have to make a special trip to buy tourist cards, at specific shops. I have a large collection of various postcards already at home, that I would prefer and enjoy sending. I find it especially disheartening when I draw a profile that has received 5,000 cards or more, and still they request or prefer tourist cards, yet I can see they have already received many from my region.
2 Likes
I’ve never seen that ‘no tourist cards’ yet, and I’ve been on here a couple of years. No worries, I think!
CorinneJKS
I actually love tourist postcards! I love it when people share stories of their hometown or vacations 
2 Likes
And isn’t that the whole point of a postcard, at least traditionally? Why wouldn’t anyone want them? To me, they’re the most valuable, especially when they’re sent during a trip from the actual place being visited and depicted on the card.
5 Likes
@ericdrive Thank you for your comments. There was a time, very long ago, that when people traveled to other places (foreign or domestic), they purchased viewcards to bring back home with them rather than mail them. This was before the era when photography gained mass acceptance. When they got home, they would put their cards in albums and place them on coffee tables etc. So when they had guests over to their homes, the guests could look through them. A much simpler time for sure…
3 Likes
Just a heads up, when I edited my profile today there is a clear warning that says: “Making demands about what you want or don’t want to receive is not allowed by the Community Guidelines and may put your account at risk.”
2 Likes