Hometown tourism

Every now and then, the call goes out: be a tourist in your own home town!

-Gas prices going up? Save money by being a tourist in your own home town!

-Local economy going lagging? Stimulate it by being a tourist in your own home town!

-Most of your city's population displaced by a hurricane? Make up for lagging tourism by being a tourist in your own home town!

This idea has some merit. Most cities have interesting sights and activities that only a small percentage of the local population go to. Undiscovered treasures right in your back yard, if you will. So take more advantage of local opportunities - think like a tourist.

This idea has its drawbacks as well. Most tourism strategies are based on a simple principle: wring as much money out of tourists as possible. Rental cars and hotel rooms even have special "tourism" taxes. When a city builds a new sports arena or convention center, the funding usually comes from those special taxes. Is this really the message you want to send to the citizenry?

Tax revenues down? Encourage your citizens to be tourists in their own home town! Leave that car at home for the weekend and rent something new! Stay at a hotel! Pay to go into a museum! Feed the parking meters!

I view tourism as an intrusive activity. People walk around and look at things, rather than drive past them. People take pictures, stand in front of things so their pictures can be taken, etc. If you're a tourist, you have a great excuse for this kind of behavior: you're engaging in tourism. If you're a local and you're doing this stuff, you're probably destined for a terror watch-list. You're not being touristy, you're surveilling and casing. And I'm not sure if a cop is going to buy "but they want me to be a tourist in my own home town!" as a valid excuse.

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