Word: localized
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...March, Madrid pledged $1.3 billion to modernize Spain's tourism infrastructure in a bid to fight off competition from sunshine destinations like Turkey and Egypt, which have become more competitive as the euro has appreciated. In Spain's Canary Islands, where tourism represents upwards of 60% of the local economy, the municipal tourism board recently began a series of seminars to help tourism workers cast off their perceived grumpiness; course materials advise cabbies to "ensure your taxis smell nice and don't drive too fast" and remind hotel staff that, "a smile costs nothing and is the most effective welcome...
Boosting tourism, however, isn't merely about attracting foreign visitors: governments are also courting their own citizens. In China, local authorities have distributed domestic-travel coupons nationwide. In Wuhan, a city along the Yangtze River in central China, $146,000 worth of coupons were snatched up within 10 minutes at a promotional event, and the city has pledged more vouchers totalling $73 million. In Britain, it's estimated that 5 million more citizens will choose a "staycation" in the British Isles this year, rather than venturing to the pricey eurozone...
...government can do something about it," says Michelle Sebastian, 26, marketing manager at the hotel. But no one has been arrested in Bangalore, and she still feels unsafe going out at night. "We pay taxes. Where's the money going?" Instead of putting more police on the streets, the local government is using the incidents to justify new restrictions on bars and restaurants. The employees at the Ista worry that disrupting local nightlife won't just hurt their business; they fear that it hurts Bangalore's reputation as a safe, cosmopolitan place for young people to start their careers...
...village 62 miles (100 km) away. He has been doing this every day for eight years, working as a ticket collector in a parking lot, as a warden in a youth hostel, then as a counter clerk in a juice bar and now as the office manager for a local advocacy group, where he earns about $100 a month. "When I first came, I was scared," Raghu says. "I thought, Everyone will speak to me in English. But then I found, I actually can manage. I became much more confident, and I thought, I can make a living...
...dark about how much Sarkozy intends to contribute to the effort, most are expected to come in with pretty stingy contribution proposals - something likely to provoke a return of Sarkozy's authoritarian tone. The sparks that fly over money will be nothing, though, compared to the battle those same local leaders will likely put up when they realize they're bound to lose most of their power to a Greater Paris so enormous it will doubtless be administered by a new super-entity - possibly an organ of the state...