Some "touristy" stuff is worth doing - the unique stuff.

But my problem with "touristy" is that often you can't tell what city you're in when you're doing it. We did some of the "touristy" markets in HKG recently and we could have been anywhere. All the same junk you could buy in any other major city. I don't think that's experiencing the place you're visiting.

When I travel I want to get a sense of the place, culture, people, food. If you surround yourself only with tourists or a contrived culture, you're not going to really experience the city you visit. You don't have to leave home for that.

On the other hand, and the end of the day I want to be back in my luxury hotel, which is probably not the place to meet locals