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In the 1770s, English writer Samuel Johnson told his friend, the diarist James Boswell, that "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life". If they'd have a "Visit London" organization at the time, they'd have loved that, but, not to worry, today's organizations charged with getting tourists and other visitors into the capital are still making good use of the saying. Tourist bodies in Northern Ireland, however, are unlikely to use another of Johnson's famous comments to his pal. For when Boswell asked: "Is not the Giant's Causeway worth seeing?" Johnson is supposed to have said of the striking coastal feature: "Worth seeing, yes; but not worth going to see". There is a difference.
Some cities and towns are "naturally" blessed with advantages which are worth "going to see", for instance, Innsbruck with its wonderful mountain setting and its historic old town. Others create such an advantage out of events or iconic "must-see" constructs. Examples include the use made of mega-festivals by German cities (for example, Kieler Voche - the largest sailing event in the world) and the establishment in Bilbao of the iconic Guggenheim Museum.
The aggregate volume and value of urban tourism globally are, frustratingly, unknowns. But it is clear from national-level statistics that both domestic and international tourism are essentially movements of townsfolk to urban destinations - not, as so often stereotypically presented, the great outdoors. In the UK, for instance, 75 per cent of all inbound tourism is currently concentrated on just seven cities. That's a situation which would ring true with the late American singer and songwriter Ben E. King who wrote a newspaper article on his decidedly urban-based tourism preferences, saying: "Cities are the heart and soul of a country and I prefer to stay in town and hear music, see people and soak up the atmosphere".
Ignorant of or extremely difficult to countenance
Many towns and cities, however, are "Worth seeing...