ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the economic benefits of commemorations ripple through local and national economies. Economic clout means that in massive undertakings like the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989 and the quincentenary of Columbus's discovery of the Americas in 1992 the commemoration industry largely determines what gets done, and more and more shapes contemporary taste. In all the Hispanic countries, the commemoration industry has swung into action, investing in infrastructure, planning commercial exploitation, and launching vast publicity campaigns. Since major anniversaries serve government and business sponsors more directly than they do the public, organizers who wish to evade the maw of the commemoration industry would do well to embrace unfamiliar topics. Both in Europe and the United States, because of ease in scheduling and in commanding consensus, anniversaries promote tourism fully as much as they enhance national identity.
