Post-Hurricane Sandy disaster tourism hits New York

A construction site sinks into a large hole on South Street Seaport following Hurricane Sandy October 30, 2012 in Manhattan, New York. (Getty Images)

Disaster tourism - that is, exploiting interest in the damage wrought by disasters for financial gain - is a funny one. On the one hand, it can inject much-needed relief funds into devastated communities. On the other, the money doesn't always go to the community and isn't turning the misery of thousands into a leisure pursuit kind of bad taste, anyway?

We have a chance to debate the issue once more, since (in what must be record time), tour operator Gray Line have started leading bus tours around the areas of New York affected by Hurricane Sandy.

"A couple getting off the Gray Line tour bus had just flown in from Mexico City on Wednesday night, missing the stormy conditions," reports The Daily Beast. "The wife shook her head about her husband’s enthusiasm for the storm. He was disappointed he’d missed the storm, and said he would have liked to have been downtown in the midst of it. 'I was hoping we’d get here in time. I’m kind of a storm chaser.'"