Paradox

I recently finished my last Bill Bryson travel narrative...

Ten hours and 903 kilometers after leaving Daly Waters

 we arrived, dry and dusty, in Alice Springs...

In those days Alice (Springs) had a population of 4,000 and hardly and visitors.

  Today it's a thriving little city with a population of 25,000 and it is full of 

visitors -- 35,000 of them a year -- which is of course the whole problem.  

These days you can jet in from Adelaide in two hours, from Melbourne and Sydney in 

less than three. You can have a latte and buy some opals and then climb on a tour 

bus and travel down the highway to Ayers Rock.  The town has not only become 

accessible, it's become a destination.  It's so full of motels, hotels, conference centers, 

campgrounds, and desert resorts that you can't pretend even for a moment that you 

have achieved something exceptional by getting yourself there.  It's crazy really.  

A community that was once famous for being remote now attracts thousands of 

visitors who come to see how remote it no longer is.

Bill Bryson

from In a Sunburned Country

Taebaek is a little town surrounded by green mountains in northeastern Korea.  It's quiet.  Almost sleepy.  Jessica and I spent two hours there one Sunday waiting for a bus home.  The town reminded me of Brevard, NC.  I could envision cafes.  Used book shops.  Coffee bars.  Antique stores. 

                                                                  ...and tourists.  Lots and lots of tourists.

Carrying the label tourist is often considered a badge of dishonor.  Tourists ruin places.  They make a secret little find in the mountains not so secret and not so little.  They come in large camera-toting mobs.  They bring congestion.  Noise.  Crowds.

                                                                  ...and money.  Lots and lots of money.

No one complains about the money.  Money brings development and a new quality of life.  All the octopus you can fit in your refrigerator.  I've realized now that many travelers (tourists) don't necessarily want to avoid tourists.  They want to avoid other tourists.

After being a foreigner for the past 10 months, I view tourists in a completely different manner.  I'm pro-tourist.  They're good for a city.  Even by the busload.

(...still, I hope Gatlinburg burns to the ground.)