El selfie del mundo

It is unquestionable: tourism has become the most important industry of our time. Consequently, it is worth examining its origins (the aristocratic travelers of the Grand Tour, the mythification of the ruins or the first cruise ships), its development from the transport and communications revolution (with the consequent commercialization and massification) and the current diversification in different types of tourism, apart from the traditional one (sports, sexual, business, gastronomic, etc.), up to the point of raising the possible end of this age of tourism in which we live due to economic or cultural transformations. Precisely, the covid-19 pandemic has come to demonstrate to what extent our world depends on an industry whose collapse can lead to an unprecedented economic crisis. But this essay goes beyond the historical study to raise questions that range from sociology to philosophy, without disdaining economics, urbanism, anthropology... Concepts such as "tourist city", "authenticity", "zoning", "multiculturalism", "alienation", "cultural heritage" or "otherness" allow a deep analysis of a complex phenomenon, which concerns the relationships between human beings in a perpetual journey that seeks both personal fun and knowledge of oneself in the mirror of the Other.