ancient cities

820 Tourism
of Cancun, Las Vegas, and Disney World and much
of the area surrounding it are devoted mainly to lodging,
dining, entertainment, and shopping. Many cities
and localities close to national parks, mountains,
seashores, forests, and archeological and historical
sites have evolved into what some people derisively
call “tourist traps.” Key West, Florida; Estes Park,
Colorado; the Gold Coast, Australia; the French
Riviera, and countless other places fit this category.
Tourist bubbles are smaller examples of this
phenomenon. In most cities and regions, most
tourists use a specialized infrastructure of hotels,
sports venues, malls, and entertainment facilities,
and they tend to visit particular sites. In places
considered risky or dangerous, tourists may avoid
the local environment entirely. Package tours,
cruise ships, and resorts virtually seal tourists off
from nontourists, except in very controlled circumstances.
In cities, tourist bubbles composed of
a cluster of facilities and amenities (new waterfronts,
atrium hotels, festival malls, convention
centers, sports stadiums, and entertainment districts)
may also separate tourists by creating a
space or series of spaces segregated from the
remainder of the city. By building fortress spaces,
even the most crime-ridden cities have been able to
carve out islands that can comfortably be inhabited
by tourists and middle-class city residents.
In most, places, however, tourists spill beyond
the confines of the tourism quarter. A tourist economy
has rippled outward from Cancun in such a
way that the official tourist space has increasingly
become a base from which tourists begin trips ranging
beyond the self-contained and isolated resort.
Tourism also may stimulate other economic sectors.
Las Vegas’s extraordinary growth has long been
dependent on gaming, but the city is now home to
one of the fastest-growing U.S. universities.
Tourist bubbles exist in most cities, but visitors
commonly move freely outside the area designed
to serve them. Boston, Massachusetts, for example,
is a walking city for residents and visitors alike,
even though a festival mall on the waterfront and
an interconnected mall and hotel complex in the
city center draw large numbers of visitors. The
streets outside these enclosures are crowded with
local residents and visitors, and visitors freely spill
over into business and residential areas. The
Boston example has become the norm. Tourist
enclaves are generally incorporated into an urban
texture, which has itself become an object of fascination
and consumption.
In most cities, tourism has become increasingly
integrated into the local geography and economy.
Urban amenities have become essential not only for
attracting tourists but also for meeting the demands
of local residents. Visitors and local residents tend
to share the spaces that offer culture, nightlife,
diversity, and a sense of authenticity. In cities everywhere,
local residents have demanded a high level
of urban amenities, both public and private, in the
downtowns and neighborhoods they frequent. The
result is a revival of the downtown and of innercity
neighborhoods after decades of decline.
Tourism has also become less separated from
other economic sectors. In most large cities, tourism
has become woven into a complex economy
made up of several interdependent sectors. Tourism
is extremely important to Chicago, Illinois, which
attracted 33 million visitors in 2005. A half-million
tourism-related jobs were created in the city
between 1990 and 2005. Much of the success of
the shopping district known as the Miracle Mile is
accounted for by visitor spending. Even so, tourism
is only one component of the economy of this
global city, which also relies on corporate headquarters;
high-level services in finance, insurance,
law, real estate, and other service sectors; a commodities
exchange; and manufacturing.
For some tourist destinations, the flow of visitors
has become overwhelming. In Florence and Venice,
Italy, the number of visitors far exceeds the number
of local residents. For such places, managing the
impact of tourism has become more important than
promotion. Venice, for example, requires visitors to
buy a daily pass to major attractions, and the number
of passes issued is strictly regulated. National
parks and eco-tourist sites in several countries
have installed bus systems and created designated
tourist areas in an attempt to protect the natural
environment. In the Galapagos Islands, tourists are
not allowed to leave tour groups.
Tourism will continue to increase because more
people have the means and desire to travel and a
complex industry has evolved to promote, finance,
organize, and manage travel. Tour operators; airlines;
the corporations that run hotels, resorts, and
cruise lines; and government agencies are only a few
entries in a long list of tourism providers. In effect,
tourism providers are the gatekeepers of tourism;