ABSTRACT
This Introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a recent national survey report which confirms that cities all over the United States, of all sizes and within and outside of metropolitan areas, have made the promotion of tourism a high priority. Dennis Judd and Susan Fainstein have identified three basic types of tourist cities: resort cities, tourist-historic cities, and converted cities. The case studies in the book reveal two principal strategies for building the infrastructure of tourism. Some cities are obliged to create segmented and demarcated spaces for tourism. In the Vancouver model, tourism development can take place only within a larger concern for creating a livable city. In American cities, civic elites have used the new infrastructure as a means of reclaiming the urban core. Many cities have implemented aggressive policies to compete for tourism as a remedy for local economic crisis.
