I would not be surprised if the main industry for planets becomes
tourism. A lot of people living in space will want to visit Earth,
not only for grand sweeping vistas but for history. You might be able
to build pyramids in a habitat, but they won't be THE Pyramids. The
same for Stonehenge or Zimbabwe or any other such thing. For that
matter, Tranquility Base isn't Tranquility Base unless it's, well,
Tranquility Base.

But you know, living in my little apartment in Dallas, I don't get to
see all that many awe-inspiring landscapes or historical marvels. I
can go see the grassy knoll and Sixth Floor Museum pretty much any
time I like, and of course people in Austin can can not only remember
the Alamo but go look at it any old time. Every year or so I go to
see family in Oklahoma, and if I were a wealthier man I could easily
enough go to the Grand Canyon or Venice or even, if I were rich
enough, a different interesting place every week. But most people
can't do that.

Most people have to think along the lines of "If I save like mad and
nothing unexpected comes up, I can probably see Hawaii, Paris, and one
other place before I die."(*)

I fully expect that the Grand Earth Tour will be one of those things
that the lower middle class hopes to do "before I die," the middle
class hopes to do "before I'm thirty," and the wealthy do whenever
they feel like it.

(*) This of course is for a developed country like the UK, the US, or
Japan. Most of the world's population has as much chance of ever
making it to Hawaii as I do of making it to a Martian hotel.

On Jun 9, 2008, at 6:27 PM, sailor.barsoom wrote:

> I fully expect that the Grand Earth Tour will be one of those things
> that the lower middle class hopes to do "before I die," the middle
> class hopes to do "before I'm thirty," and the wealthy do whenever
> they feel like it.
>

That assuming that people continue to die, of course -- a rather
dubious assumption IMHO. (But even without it, your basic point is
quite valid.)

Best,
- Joe