I'm not shedding any tears for the tourism industry. They share plenty of blame, forever pushing the idea that you're abnormal if you don't get on a plane and fly hundreds or thousands of miles at least once a year.
Hrmph.
Normal (historically speaking) is living your entire life, cradle to grave, within walking (or perhaps horseback) distance.
People who like camping, hiking, bird watching, photography outings etc all within their region, can't because of wildfires, smoke, torrential rains, & extreme heat advisories.
People & businesses who rely on tourism dollars disagree
Billionaires funded the likes of Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, & Dr. Oz to prolong a pandemic that sent billions of dollars of revenue to monopolies like Amazon while closing local stores ...and killed 1.17 million Americans
1/2
2/2
Facebook &Twitter profited from the artificially ginned up engagement from platforming covid disinformation. And climate disinformation. And election denial.
It cost billions in lost economic activity in several industries besides tourism.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/politics/big-oil-disinformation-record-profits-climate/index.html
https://en.unesco.org/covid19/disinfodemic/coronavirusfacts
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/17/covid-misinformation-conspiracy-theories-ccdh-report
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cost-of-covid-19-misinformation-study-1.6726356
@Npars01 @chad
You make a good point - the tourism industry is not monolithic.
The phrase "tourism industry", for me, evokes a connotation of airlines, resort chains, disney and the like.
The nature preserve that's biking distance from my house doesn't feel like "tourism industry" to me. Nor does the RV park a short drive away, where I most frequently visit my son's family. But technically, I guess it is. It's just not very... *industrial*, you know?
I run into birdwatching groups in my local parks all the time.
The locals guide them to the best vantage points to see rare birds. The wildfires spoiled those trips.