Twenty-five years ago, the UK made the bold and generous gesture of making its national museums free to all. Suddenly, anyone from anywhere in the world could gaze at iconic works of art by the greatest artists in history without having to pay a penny.
The underlying logic is simple: the further away a visitor comes from, the longer they tend to stay - and longer stays mean more money flowing into the local economy through lodging taxes, restaurant bills, and retail spending.
On one rocky outcropping surrounded by fog which makes it seem to jut out beyond the edge of the world, a multitude of people chattering and maneuvering for pictures organize themselves into a line-giving each group or person a turn for a snapshot at the cliff's edge, working together to manufacture the illusion of solitude.
When routes are well organized, there are clear directional signs, and speed limits become reasonable. The early installation of warning signs allows transport companies to plan deliveries more accurately and avoid delays. For businesses, time is money. When a truck carrying goods does not spend hours detouring due to an unclear traffic scheme or stuck in traffic where it could have been avoided thanks to competent traffic management, fuel costs, driver wages, and vehicle maintenance costs are reduced.
Rather than chasing diminishing returns through additional advertising, the agency advocated for an entertainment product: a film that could function as a vehicle for repositioning perception while operating as a single investment with long-tail value, capable of shaping how audiences feel about a place over time and across markets.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the most popular park in the country last year, drawing more than 11.5 million visitors, according to data from the National Park Service. In fact, the park, which straddles North Carolina and Tennessee, accounted for 12.3 percent of all national park visits.
The ruthless, haughty Cersei Lannister was forced to walk naked down a majestic staircase in the finale of the fifth season of Game of Thrones. That scene, which was filmed in 2014, established Dubrovnik a city of just 41,500 inhabitants that is known as the gem of the Adriatic Sea into an eternal vacation destination. Today, traversing its Jesuit Stairs and surrounding streets in mid-August can be a desperate endeavor. Crowds fill every nook, and prices are exorbitant.
And yet, the U.S. tourism industry is worried. While the rest of the world saw a travel bump in 2025, with global international arrivals up 4%, the U.S. saw a downturn. The number of foreign tourists who came to the United States fell by 5.4% during the year-a sharper decline than the one experienced in 2017-18, the last time, outside the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, that the industry was gripped by fears of a travel slump.
Policy stances from the Trump administration on everything from immigration to tariffs, along with currency swings and stricter border controls, have seemingly proved a turnoff to travelers from other countries, especially Canadians - the single largest source of foreign tourists for the United States. Canadian travel to the U.S. fell by close to 30% in 2025. But it is not just visitors from Canada who are choosing to avoid the United States.
They were trying to get to the bottom of how to diminish catalogue distribution without having a negative impact on store and online sales. They were also keen to define the geographic areas where digital content would work best and how to profile those areas to classify digital purchase behaviour. Together with Analytic Partners they were able to uncover opportunities to eliminate 22% of catalogues with negligible sales impact and increasing digital support in high-performing topologies, preserving€ 294 million in sales.
A 2026 travel report from Hilton identified "inheritourism" as a notable trend for the new year ― with 66% of travelers surveyed by the hotel brand saying that their parents have influenced their choice of accommodations, 60% saying they guided their choice of loyalty programs and 73% saying they shaped their general travel style.
Cape Town tourism is a booming industry, and the Mother City needs foreign cash to operate as one of the planet's elite destinations. However, some locals are getting a little annoyed by the oversupply of digital nomads. European tourists are loving Cape Town, and why wouldn't they? When one single Euro gets you R19, an Uber to Boulders Beach to check out the penguins isn't all that pricy.
Years later, after countless nights in hotels from budget chains to five-star establishments, I've noticed something interesting. Those of us who grew up in lower-middle-class households carry certain behaviors with us into these spaces. They're not necessarily bad habits, but they're telling. They reveal a childhood where every pound mattered and waste was practically a sin. I've seen these patterns in myself, in friends from similar backgrounds, and in countless fellow travelers over the years.