According to the New York City Rich and Famous Tours website:

“Rich & Famous Tours of New York is a genuine “insider’s tour” through the most exciting celebrity-filled neighborhoods in the world’s most exciting city. Fun for the entire family!”

It certainly is genuine, but just imagine yourself hunting down celebrities like a hunter chasing gazelle on the African plains. The difference being what is being sold in this case is not an experience, it is the excitement of the likely hood that you would see a celebrity by scoping out their homes.

Normally I would not take the time to look twice at covering a story revolving around a celebrity tour operator but this time I could not resist. The reason why is because of Rich and Famous tours, which caught my eye because of the speed at which it capitalized on recent death of Heath Ledger.

Today, New York City Rich and Famous Tours announced that they have added Heath Ledger’s loft on Broome St., or according to their press release ‘location of death,’ to their schedule. Just to provide added value they make sure to drop by Campbell Funeral Home where other celebrities, along with Ledger, were prepared for burial. Just imagine the look on your kids face when he says “Oh boy, an old cast iron building where someone died and a funeral home where they put them in a casket?!? Daddy, you’re the best!”

The concept is not new, touring by celebrity homes has been around for a while but it seems like the level of intensity to stay ahead of the game has risen significantly. This leads me to question the level of demand. Is there really a demand to see a recently deceased celebrity’s home? I would not have thought of walking by Heath Ledger’s ‘location of death’ had someone not offered to do so in the first place. Likewise I would not have thought of checking out a funeral home where celebrities were “prepped.”

The idea of providing more for your customer is fantastic but when it comes down to it, how much closer does a tour operator have to get? Eventually, are people going to pay top dollar for a professional celebrity tracker?

Just imagine following a guide who has a team of paparazzi-like trackers through the thick brush in St. Tropez, or perhaps the jungle that is New York or the hills of Beverly to come eye to eye with a celebrity. Your guide picks up a discarded Smart Water bottle, smells it, inspects it, “This way” he says. He leads you to a Starbucks next to a Cartier boutique, he tells you to “Stay low, and be quiet.” You hide behind a skim soy, 2-pump chai latte and a newspaper which you are holding upside down. He tells you to peak out the corner of the newspaper and sure enough there it is, a celebrity. Oh the excitement! Oh the rush!