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Comment by barelyauser | Hacker News Reader

And what does "economic impact" means? A bunch of people burning jet fuel to get there and spend some hours looking at it? Why not working towards helping other people?

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Buying from the cafes nearby. Patronizing the hotels. Going to see a show after. All the things one does in the neighborhood around a tourist attraction.

A week-long golf tournament in my town brings in 200k+ people and local government touts a $190M economic impact number for that. I'm sure it's fudged to be as high as possible, but pretending Notre Dame doesn't have an economic benefit to Paris would be odd.

Money means nothing. Human time is what matters. Consider that back at their place of origin things did not get done. Economic impact means nothing. If I gave you $100 to watch me do nothing, what value this transaction created? There is virtually nothing to show for at the end but we created $100 of economic impact...

> If I gave you $100 to watch me do nothing, what value this transaction created?

That seems entirely up to you.

Not all tourists in Paris comme from far away, probably a majority of tourists came by train or car. I never take a plane to visit Paris.

I have always been disgusted by this sort of low, mediocre, pseudo-moral argument. "Why build these grand churches? You could feed people with that money!" "Why put all this effort into beautiful buildings? You could build more low-income housing for the same cash!" It sickens me.

We can do both. Man does not live by bread alone. Utilitarian mediocrity is satisfied with a full stomach and keeping warm.

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