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Comment by randycupertino | Hacker News Reader

I think a lot of this folds into the broader "anti-tourist" sentiments and protests happening across Europe this summer, and this wedding is just a nice big perfectly timed reason to protest even more.

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Most places with anti tourist movements are places that are completely unable to make money off something that is not tourism. Let’s call them what they are: places that want to feed off the rest of the country.

hm. I can see that being true for venice, but what about barcelona and paris?

Tourism makes up like 13% of the Spanish economy.

Interesting data point! But don‘t you think Barcelona is capable of making money outside of tourism?

Which is why I said most places. Some places are definitely able to live without tourism, especially the biggest cities. Most places have absolutely nothing to offer besides a beach and pubs to get drunk in.

Sure, but I’d imagine that a large portion of that is spent around Barcelona.

What does this mean?

I see movements in Rome and Barcelona. Also in Berlin in Paris. All this movements negate your theory. What are the movements you mean?

I hope this will end tourism once and for all. I personally never liked it. Pretty much it's just wasted resources.

The theory is that travel is broadening. Seeing how people in other societies live good lives too, even if they do things much differently from your hometown folks.

The best comment on the value of travel I ever heard was from the comedian Lewis Black. Paraphrasing, he said that the true value of seeing the world is when you come back and can see your own home with brand new eyes.

Perhaps inspired by T.S. Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

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