Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally, I believe it really depends on the nature of the city / town. I grew up ~60 miles down the coast from Charleston, on Hilton Head Island. Totally different vibe, beautiful, natural island. The Town of actually made real efforts to manage development and prevent developers from doing the normal land-grab over-development. I've lived in Charleston for 7+ years and, despite a temporary moratorium, the City of…
That's exactly the kind of town I grew up in (albeit at a more northern latitude). The veneer of quaintness that draws people to the town is very thin, just enough to get them to open their wallets. Beneath that it's all dysfunction and scum liberally sprinkled with less than ethical business practices and corrupt politics that everone's managed convince themselves is normal or doesn't exist. I've lived in a variety…
I think one of the real differences between a strictly-tourist town and the island I grew up on was that it also served as an upscale retirement destination for Snowbird types such that it has its own thriving economy and year-round population (in the 30,000 - 40,000 range) so it wasn't strictly dependent on tourism.
The surrounding area has also grown and developed into its own area since. Rather interesting to watch the sort-of bootstrapping of the surrounding sleepy town into a thriving area over the years.