memes

I've seen and at still seeing exactly what the previous poster describe happen in my hometown, Lisbon, as the politicians for the last 2 decades invested ever harder in Tourism as the solution for the country's problems (which are mainly rooted in a management culture of profound incompetence - I lived 20 years abroad so I can see it for the shit it is by comparison - and insane levels of cronyism) rather than, you know, actually trying to solve them (the local politicians are basically the worst managers from what is maybe the worst management culture in Europe, so their "management" of the country reflects that).

Towns which mainly grew up from some little fishing village or similar through Tourism and which are mainly dedicated to it now is one thing (and there are many of those in Portugal, especially in Algarve), established cities which got taken over by Tourism is a whole different thing: it's one thing when 3 or 4 small fishing operations end up closing down because the Tourism Economy took over and a handful of people have to leave in search of jobs in their area, a whole different thing is when an entire established Economy of a city of a million people starts being undermined by Tourism and things like Tech are slowly pushed out because the city has become too expensive for the young people that normally work Tech or in fact for just about every recent University graduate (basically if you weren't earning enough to buy your house back in the time before Tourism took over, you're screwed).

Tourism will pull an Economy up from low value added activities such as Subsistence Agriculture or Fishing, but it will pull an Economy down from higher value added activities such as for example Tech - you don't need Engineers to make beds in hotels or serve drinks to tourists.