Nevertheless, it appears that if all the economic benefits of tourism were placed on one side of a scale and the costs on the other, the thing would tip over. But there are the other costs associated with our hospitality business. Tourism is widely touted as a clean industry. True, tourists don't do as much harm as smokestacks, clear-cuts or careless microchip factories. But while the environmental costs of tourism are even harder to pin down than the economic costs, they are undeniable.
Traffic is clearly the biggest problem.
Driving anywhere near the beach, or on Highway 1 for that matter, can be aggravatingly slow between June and August. Traffic reports confirm that on tourist routes like Ocean Street, Mission Street and Riverside Avenue, there are more than twice as many motorists in July as in March. And all these cars, of course, bring added air pollution, something less obviously annoying but perhaps as dangerous. Beyond that, tracking the hidden costs of tourism gets squirrely. But everybody who lives here has anecdotal evidence that our quality of life is negatively impacted by the throngs.