overrun by tourists!

There is a HUGE craft fair happening this weekend near my hometown. The traffic in town has been absolutely horrible and its times like this that I really despise living in a tourist town. It's something that I've been wrestling with since we moved here. While I love the town, the history and the architecture, the frequent influx of outsiders can be a real drag. I love the fact that there is lots to do here, and I realize that much of this is due to the tourism industry, but I still don't have to like it. The last thing I need is for my new hometown to become another Branson Missouri. Not that Branson is that bad - it's just not my idea of a good place to live.

Tourism is an interesting industry. It's one of the few industries that has no concept of internal competition or oversaturation, which is a fancy way of saying that you can never have too much of it. While the rest of the nation is dealing with over-population, global warming and trying to curb natural devastation, much of the tourism industry is still following the belief that "if you build it, they will come".