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In defense of tourism

In Europe, a whole movement against 'overtourism' has taken shape, symbolized by water guns some To which I'd say: Let those who are without stamps in their passport squirt the first water gun. Advertisement Now, that's not to say there aren't serious problems caused by tourism, starting with the Tourists have also been blamed for degrading cultural institutions, such as by thronging the Louvre to photograph the Mona Lisa. Last week, a painting at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence was Tourists stand accused of wearing Advertisement At an extreme, tourism has also been accused of Against the backdrop of so many complaints, some localities have started to impose charges in an effort to reduce the number of visitors. Locally, Now, I'm certainly not going to defend the small minority of loutish tourists. And when there are actual safety reasons to limit the number of people in a museum gallery or in the canals of Venice, that's obviously reasonable. But those are specific problems in specific places, not an indictment of tourism overall. Indeed, it's hard not to see some of these high-minded critiques of overtourism as disguised snobbery, prejudice, or horror at the kids these days. The critiques tend to either implicitly or explicitly suggest there's a right and wrong way to visit other countries — that it's fine when enlightened Boomers go to the Louvre to admire its Etruscan antiquities, but horrifyingly gauche when someone else takes a selfie with the Mona Lisa. Tourists take a picture of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. AMAURY CORNU/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images Moralizing about the environmental impact of other people's travel — also known as Advertisement The objections also tend to ignore the benefits. Travel does create cultural exchange — and economic activity. In Europe, there's been a bit of backlash to the backlash, with defenders of tourism Tourism is an easy bogeyman. But we all benefit from being able to see the world in ways previous generations could only dream of. Unless you're willing to give up travel yourself, trying to limit tourism or judge other tourists isn't the right approach to solving the problems that tourism can create. This is an excerpt from , a Globe Opinion newsletter about the future of transportation in the region. Sign up to . Alan Wirzbicki is Globe deputy editor for editorials. He can be reached at