"Are you serious, Mutoh!?! It seems that giant chunk of rock above us hasn't caught your eye! At this time every year, we are overrun by tourists! So why is the town empty? Clearly, it's your job to ensure the carnival's operation, but that's if people are here for it! Don't drag the merchants and soldiers into this!"
— Captain Viscen arguing with Mutoh in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
In both Real Life and fiction, tourism is big. Really big. It's an industry, a career, a way of life. Entire towns and cities are set up around tourism, and the focus of both their businesses and their politicians is getting those tourists to come to their town and bring those sweet disposable income dollars with them.
Often, a film, TV show, or book will have a town or community all geared up for the arrival of the tourists. The beaches are clean or the ski slopes covered with a deep layer of finely powdered snow. The streets are swept, the lawns neatly trimmed, the displays are up, the vendors are ready, the restaurants have plenty of local dishes, the politicians are extolling the virtue and charm of their community, and the quick transfer of money from the wallets of the tourists to the cash registers of the town is about to commence.
But then something has happened that could derail things entirely, and cause the tourists to either stay away, pack up and leave, or even have their lives endangered. A shark cruising the waters offshore, conditions above the ski resort are ripe for an avalanche, local geologists are picking up an increase in seismic activity, the nearby volcano is rumbling, the lunatic of legend who slaughtered all those kids at the summer camp years ago just escaped from the asylum and is rumored to be on the way back home (Hook Hand optional).
From here, the narrative leading to the resolution of the conflict forks between two paths, depending on the surrounding factors:
- In a work narrating a cynical (or at least deconstructive) setting, the intrepid hero or heroine who refuses to take the situation lightly is pitted against the politicians and businesspeople who want to downplay the event in order to get the tourists to stay. In this case, you can expect the Suit with Vested Interests, Obstructive Bureaucrat and Villainy-Free Villain. An Apocalyptic Gag Order may be issued to tie the hands of the protagonists. Jerkass Has a Point also comes into play when the person points out that without a good tourist season, the town or community may very well just dry up and blow away because it's already on a razor's edge financially. It also helps enhance the plot by ensuring the natural disaster causes a great many casualties, or that the monster or killer has a great many victims to choose from...
- In a more idealistic work, the runners of the touristic city or location are honest to heart, and are genuinely worried that they may be left with a Dying Town as a result of the ongoing misfortune discouraging people from visiting them. If the occupation of the hero or heroine revolves around dealing with catastrophes or crimes, they may be asked by the runners to find a way to solve the problem. Otherwise, the character will simply take action by their own hands in case they're unable to leave or someone they know is in danger.
A cover-up by officials or businessmen (whether out of greed to salvage their business, or out of genuine concern to avoid spreading panic among the public) is not necessary. It may be an event that no one can do anything about or try to conceal. It just happens and the consequences have to be accepted. The Town with a Dark Secret could come into play, if the event is either caused by the secret and/or risks exposing it.
This is definitely Truth in Television, since many disasters and public health emergencies have taken a large toll on the economy of many touristic destinations (one such (recent) case being the COVID-19 Pandemic from early 2020 to early 2022). However, please limit examples to fiction.
Super-Trope to Attack of the Town Festival, which deals with an ongoing festive event that is being interrupted, overshadowed or otherwise affected by an unforeseen attack or misfortune. Can be combined with Busman's Holiday, in case the main character intended to spend their vacation in the affected city or location only to perform their own job in order to solve the conflict at hand. More generally, it can lead to a holiday prospect becoming crappy.
Examples:
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Fan Works
- Hero Chat: The reason Mayor Bourgeois keeps all information about Hawk Moth and the Akumas from reaching the outside world is because he's worried about the existence of supervillains discouraging tourists from visiting Paris. This turns out to do more harm than good; not only does it keep other heroes from offering aid to Paris' Miraculous Holders, but the masquerade gets blown wide open without any chance to reveal the truth in a controlled manner after Prince Ali gets attacked by Princess Fragrance.
Films — Animation
- Cars: The small town of Radiator Springs saw its tourism dry up with the construction of the interstate, which completely bypassed the town and took their business with it. Lightning, Mater, and the rest of the residents really don't seem to mind, as they've come to regard the idyllic spot as a little slice of Heaven.
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The island town of Chew and Shallow had become popular thanks to Flint Lockwood's invention that made food rain from the sky. On the day of the grand opening in front of tourists from around the world, the invention produces a spaghetti twister. This makes the town too dangerous for tourists.
Films — Live-Action
- Dante's Peak: Played with. Harry has found evidence to suggest that the volcano which borders the titular town is preparing to blow its top, but his fellow volcanologist Paul is hesitant to issue a warning because of a previous false alarm involving a different volcano that resulted in tourism and real estate values of the nearby town plummeting and the town nearly going bankrupt as a result, and he doesn't want the mistake to be repeated here. Paul isn't a local businessman or elected official, but he is concerned about Crying Wolf and negatively impacting the local community. Unfortunately, it's no false alarm this time.
- Honky Tonk Freeway is a low-stakes comedic take: Ticlaw, Florida is a tourist trap town that doesn't get an offramp from a new freeway, meaning people will have to go out of their way to visit. The town doesn't have that much to offer as is so wacky publicity stunts ensue.
- Hubie Halloween: Here, it's Played for Laughs. Hubie works hard to convince the sheriff that there is actually something wrong going on in the town during Halloween night. The sheriff finally believes him and tries to shut things down, but is rebuffed by the mayor. The film is set in Salem, so naturally Halloween is a huge event.
Mayor: Seventy-five percent of our annual tourism dollars are made on this night! We're not shutting things down. Trick or treat, smell my feet!
Sheriff: But...
Mayor: Trick or treat, smell my feet!
Sheriff: But...
Mayor: Smell my feet.
Sheriff: (Long pause) Do you really want me to smell your feet? - Independence Day: Resurgence: Played with. While it's more about prestige then tourism money, President Lanford refusing to address the fact an alien ship appeared on the Moon and was shot down with no idea if it was hostile or not, solely to keep the Independence Day celebrations continue without interruption.
- Jaws: The mayor of the town works hard to downplay the first shark attack, apparently strong-arming the coroner to change the cause of death to a "boating accident" and convincing the sheriff to go along. He does it because, as he explains to the sheriff, if someone yells "Barracuda!", no one will care. If someone yells "Shark!", then the beaches will be empty and the town will suffer. He finally accepts he made a mistake after the third shark attack, which scares off the tourists, ticks off Sheriff Brody because his son Michael almost became shark food and the mayor's son was in the water.
Literature
- A Fall of Moondust: A fear of Lunar administration in the wake of the apparent loss of Selene and its passengers. The epilogue implies tourism on the Moon is as alive as ever following the rescue, with passenger volume higher than before and Harris commanding the larger Selene II.
- Judge Dee: In "The Chinese Bell Murders", the local Buddhist monastery holds a statue of Guan-Yin that women pray to in order to conceive a child, then spending the night at the temple in individual pavilions that are locked in the husband's presence. In fact, the pavilions have a secret mechanism that allows the monks to enter undetected and rape the women, counting on the social stigma to keep them quiet and a sizable donation from the father if a child is born. The Judge brings an end to that lucrative arrangement, resulting in the Buddhist faction losing power at court due to the scandal, and the temple is mostly razed, with the surviving community forbidden from growing past four people.
- Jaws: Even more focus on the need to keep the beaches open is given in the novel than in the film, the mayor is very insistent both because the town's only industry is summer tourism and because he's deeply in debt to the mob and they insist that they get a return on what they paid him.
Live-Action TV
- Black Mirror: The episode "Loch Henry" takes place in a Scottish village that used to thrive on tourists exploring the scenic wilderness. However, during the '90s, local man Iain Adair was found to have abducted, tortured, and murdered eight visitors, effectively frightening off the tourist trade, leaving Loch Henry a Dying Town. As such, Pia and Davis hit upon the idea of making a Netflix-style documentary about the murders, with Stuart supporting it in the belief that it will lure in a more modern breed of tourist. However, it's discovered that Davis' parents were enthusiastic participants in the murders, resulting in an Alone with the Psycho situation that ends with Pia dying in her attempt to escape, Janet hanging herself to avoid arrest, and a huge stockpile of Snuff Films being uncovered. The documentary is extended to encompass the more recent tragedy and becomes successful enough to rejuvenate Loch Henry's tourist trade.
- Bones: The Body of the Week in one episode is connected to a rural town that used to serve tourists on a scenic route until a nearby bridge was condemned as unsafe and the state couldn't or wouldn't come up with the funds to repair it. This forced tourists to detour away, sending the town into an economic tailspin. At the end of the episode, Bones donates the advance from her latest book to pay to replace the bridge.
- Sloborn: Tourism is the biggest trade on Sloborn, most people on Sloborn make their living from tourism, and the tourists are the first to be evacuated as soon as it is proven that pigeon flu really reached the island.
- Supernatural: In the fourth season episode Monster Movie, Sam and Dean are investigating a series of deaths that appear to be caused by classic movie monsters such as Dracula, the Wolfman, and the Mummy. It's occurring during the town's Oktoberfest, which the Sheriff is not happy about. That leads to this exchange while he's in the morgue showing the body of the first victim to Sam and Dean.
Sheriff: Last thing this town needed, what with Oktoberfest and all.Sam: (sarcastically) Well, it's definitely the last thing she needed.
- In Watchmen (2019), New York City has been struggling to get people to visit ever since the psychic squid incident from the original maxi-series.
Podcasts
- Mockery Manor: The events of the first season prove to have this effect on the titular park, as well as being the driving force behind most of the events of the second season and the suspicious events happening at Dunkelschloss (Mockery Manor's sister Theme Park in the Black Forest). Following all the murders committed by Norton and Matty during season one, this becoming known to the public understandably put a massive damper on Mockery Manor's appeal as a tourist destination. To make up for all the lost revenue and ensure they could stay open, Jenkins was forced to return to a people-smuggling ring he helped set up with Helga, the manager of Dunkelschloss, during the 1950s. Using the contacts the two formed during the War working in intelligence, they are able to transport refugees and political exiles all over Europe under the cover of merely transporting goods for their theme parks. Thus Jenkins returns planning to carry on as before until Mockery Manor's reputation recovers. Unfortunately, he comes to realise that whilst he's been gone, Helga's grown greedy and paranoid, dragging them all into other far darker crimes.
- Welcome to Night Vale: In one episode, Cecil asks whoever is psychically assaulting the passengers of the town's tour buses to stop doing that, arguing that it will hurt their Yelp scores.
Video Games
- ANNO: Mutationem: Freeway 42 was once a prosperous area alongside a research facility with visitors until the Mechanika Virus caused such pandemonium that it and many other places were abandoned after the virus subsided. Despite this, there are remnants that survived by living in a Underground City beneath the sewers, along with stragglers that occasionally venture in to find materials for beneficial gain.
- Banjo-Tooie: Jolly Roger's Lagoon, which serves as the fourth playable world, is advertised as an all-ages touristic paradise hosting jet ski races, food, and pool services in a hotel hosted by the eponymous mayor of the location, and musical events (called "Happy Hours"). Unfortunately, a series of unforeseen events have compromised the prestige of the place: The dancer of the hotel (Merry Maggie) was eaten by an enormous fish (though she's still alive — Banjo and Kazooie just have to rescue her in the depths of the lake's grotto), the jet ski business is on the verge of bankruptcy due to Captain Blubber's waveracers having shipwrecked (except the last one, the aforementioned Maggie who was eaten), and the pool next to the hotel is being contaminated due to the wastes of Grunty Industries (and also being much colder than usual). These problems have indirectly caused others, like a lack of customers entering Pawno's shop and nobody being around to help Tiptup hatch the egg of his latest child. Banjo and Kazooie can solve all these issues to improve the place's situation and earn Jiggies and other items.
- Detective Pikachu: Tim and Pikachu's investigation leads them to an incident that occurred at Fine Park, which once thrived with many visitors until a Charizard suddenly went berserk and attacked everyone present. After-which, the park was shut down with no one returning and the Pokémon that formerly worked there now live in its rundown state.
- Etrian Odyssey: The main attraction of the city of Etria is the enormous Yggdrasil that lies next to it, and many explorers and researchers have visited the city to explore its downward labyrinth and uncover its secrets. Problem is, the chieftain Visil knows that if that secret is unveiled, then the sense of mystery will be lost and Etria will lose its touristic appeal. The player's character party manages to reach deep enough to realize that the secret in question is: the Yggdrasil grew over a defunct city that existed in Earth until an apocalypse, and Visil was the one who engineered it in an attempt to save humanity; and upon realizing that the party knows the truth, he tries to kill them in a Final Boss battle. During the postgame, it's admitted by certain supporting characters that Etria is likely going to become a Ghost Town after the incidents come to light.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Clock Town usually receives an influx of tourists from all compass directions from Termina to celebrate the Carnival of Time together. However, due to the incoming impact of the moon by Skull Kid, almost nobody from outside ever arrives (in fact, the evil actions of the Skull Kid also cause major problems in the other regions, so the ones living there have to struggle with their own problems as well).
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Prior to the events of the game, Kakariko Village not only was a thriving place to live in, but also a popular destination for visitors, having a tall building hosting an inn that included a hot spring pool for guests and (as advertised by a sign) a culinary service of continental breakfast for only 100 Rupees. Unfortunately, after Zant began invading Hyrule, not only was the inn and the rest of the village ravaged, but many people were turned into Shadow Beasts. By the time Link manages to help Eldin restore his powers and remove the Twilight Realm's influence, Kakariko became a Ghost Town with only some survivors left, and the inn is left in disrepair. After completion of Goron Mines, it slowly regains its popularity, being visited by two friendly Gorons (a father and his son) as well as resided by some of the Ordon children.
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:
- Lurelin Village is a sunny beach town on Hyrule's southeastern coast well known for being a relaxing tourist draw. Back in Breath of the Wild it was notably the only major town that didn't have any quests related to the main story. Not long after the start of the Upheaval, unfortunately, pirates attacked Lurelin, leveling most of the buildings and scattering its inhabitants across the land. The refugees you encounter often say they'd like to recommend visiting Lurelin for its beach town attractions, but they admit it's just not safe to do so anymore. Link is tasked with defeating the pirates and helping to rebuild the houses and shops to bring Lurelin Village back to its former glory. Bolson the builder even has Link help him add a new boat race dock in order to make the town's tourism industry even more lucrative than before.
- Inverted with Kakariko Village. As was the case across the rest of Hyrule, the Upheaval resulted in ancient Zonai ruins crashing to the surface — giant stone rings in Kakariko's case. The chief, Paya, decides to start a tourism drive by opening up the village to non-Sheikah (previously, the only outsiders allowed in were Link and several travelling merchants) in order to reinvigorate the place. It helps that the Ring Ruins didn't crush any people or houses when they fell and are surprisingly stable in their current locations. They only needed to take precautions with a single floating ring that Princess Zelda ordered cordoned off — though in that case it was really because "Zelda" (actually a disguised Phantom Ganon) wanted to keep the heroes from discovering a clue in the ring that would help them against Ganondorf.
- Mega Man Battle Network: In each game, Lan and his friends take a trip to a popular spot that comes under danger when a Villain of the Week uses their Net Navi to cause mayhem by setting bombs around a camp, or having animals go rampant at the zoo.
- Monster Hunter Portable 3rd: Yukumo Village is usually visited by many people to enjoy the local hot springs, but the migration of Zinogre from the high mountains has affected this. The player hunter is tasked to hunt monsters, including eventually Zinogre, in order to reverse the situation. Then, in High Rank quests, it's revealed that the Zinogre exodus is caused by Amatsu, a powerful Elder Dragon that is responsible for the irregular weather conditions that also began happening since the Zinogre sightings.
- Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask: Monte d'Or is a lively, sprawling city that revels in its touristic businesses, such as casinos, horse tracks, parades, circuses, toy shops, and illusory attractions. It was built in the midst of a desert after Henry Ledore rediscovered the riches originally found by Hershel and Randall 18 years ago. However, the safety of the city is compromised when the Masked Gentleman appears to perform "dark miracles" that scare tourists and inhabitants alike. While many of these acts are harmless for the apparent victims (and are done only to scare the witnesses), the last one he attempts in the final chapter (activating a mechanism that sinks Monte d'Or beneath the desert's sand and kill everyone in it) is real. The whole conflict is resolved in the end, but not before Hershel and his friends discover a set of very complex circumstances related to said conflict, including one that affects Hershel personally.
- Super Mario Sunshine: Isle Delfino thrives thanks to its touristic businesses (an Amusement Park, a four-star hotel, an extensive beach hosting fruit festivals and an ancient bird egg, etc.), which is why they take issue when Shadow Mario (who is, in fact, a debuting Bowser Jr.) begins polluting it with the paint that comes out of his magical paintbrush, as it renders the island unsafe for both visitors and inhabitants. And because the perpetrator has a likeness of Mario, the local policemen arrest the latter, thinking erroneously he's the culprit and force him to clean up the mess. Interestingly, the trope is zigzagged with Pinna Park: It was running low on visitors before Shadow Mario's evil actions, and his summoning of Mecha-Bowser to challenge Mario in battle gives publicity to the park (as the owner thinks mistakenly that the whole incident is staged); however, the misfortunes that occur with the other attractions in later episodes do play the trope straight.
- Transformers: War for Cybertron: In ancillary material, it's mentioned that when the Decepticons were preparing for war, one of the things they did to destabilise the Autobot regime was to stage attacks on areas known to be tourist attractions. There were multiple reasons for this: the attacks made the Autobot government look weak and ineffectual, it spread fear of the Decepticons, and most importantly (as far as Megatron was concerned) the tourist attractions took the populace's attention away from the fact it was the failure of the Autobot government to respond to the current economic and cultural tailspin. One such target was Darkmount in Polyhex, famous for attracting artists. By the time the Decepticons were finished, it was more (in)famous for the natural smelting pools where dead Cybertronians could be smelted down for raw materials.
Web Comic
- Sluggy Freelance: In the "Kitten" arc, satanic kittens are doing mischief in a town deep in the woods in a parody of Jaws. And just like "Jaws", the sheriff wants to keep it quiet so the town's tourism will remain unimpended. Further parodied when The Worm Guy trying to deal with the kittens points out to the sheriff that the "tourism industry" he is talking about is just a pair of cabins that are occasionally rented out to spring breakers or people who got lost and the scientist could not only solve the issue in one night if the sheriff was not so obsessed about keeping quiet, he could pay the potential losses of not renting those cabins for a single night out of his own pocket if the sheriff wants. The sheriff refuses to listen.
Western Animation
- Ben 10: Sparksville is a struggling town located in the middle of a long road which Ben and his family visit in the Season 1 episode "Tourist Trap". Despite having several fair attractions, what's keeping the town afloat is a big attraction referred to as "it", namely a giant rubber ball. Due to Ben's recklessness when trying to lift it as Four Arms, it's tossed away and causes destruction all over the town, and at one point it's shown that the ball has electrical beings (called Nosedeenians) capable of absorbing electricity to gain extra power; in fact, absorbing some from the Omnitrix allows them to escape and multiply (if either cut in half or if they absorb more electricity), causing even more trouble and endangering the town. By the end of the episode, the Nosedeenians are trapped in a giant glass bowl, which then becomes the new main attraction of the town ("the largest bulb in the world"), giving it newfound popularity.
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: The activities of Mystery Inc. are treated as tourism derailing from the first episode, as their hometown of Crystal Cove bills itself as being the most haunted place in America, and Mystery Inc. unmasking ghosts and monsters as crooked real-estate developers in Halloween masks is not good for that image.
- The Simpsons:
- In "Marge vs. the Monorail", Marge travels to North Haverbrook, one of the towns Lyle Lanley sold a monorail to, and sees that it turned into a Ghost Town after the monorail badly malfunctioned, traumatizing the locals to the point where they don't want to talk about it. Later, when Lanley tries to escape Springfield, his plane takes a layover at North Haverbook and the locals attack him (possibly killing him), and in later episodes, we learn that the town's recovered and has since become a tourist attraction again.
- In "There's Something About Marrying", Bart antagonizes a traveler who turns out to be a critic for a major network morning show, and he gives Springfield his worst grade: a six out of ten. As a result of the subsequent downturn in tourism, Mayor Quimby decides to legalize gay marriage to attract prospective couples.
- Steven Universe: At the beginning of "Ocean Gem", the residents of Beach City discover that the ocean has mysteriously disappeared. Mayor Dewey begins to cry, fretting that they're going to lose all their summer business because no one will want to visit "Desert" City. Several of the local business owners chime in with their concerns.
