The overall aims of local planning and development in Dubrovnik are targeted towards expanding facilities for the tourist industry. Turmoil in the tourist industry is widespread with most cultural and arts organizations having to consider themselves as a tourist consumer product (Žuvela, 2007). This over-prioritizing of the tourism industry has been known to have a negative impact on local development as privileging tourist attractions can disadvantage people who live, work, pay taxes and remain in an area; ‘paradise ceases to be paradise when flooded with vulgar tourists’ (McGuigan, 2004:105). Overwhelming commercial imperatives that have shifted the focus from the host to the guest have resulted in increased congestion and pollution of the historic city center during the season and complete desolation during the off-season periods. As a result, Dubrovnik has been transforming from the city, a living urban organism, into a destination. In these circumstances, it is hard to differentiate between mass or cultural or creative tourism as it is becoming harder to detect traces of the authentic, local culture. As with many of the complex issues surrounding tourism, the problem of the staged authenticity and resisting the corruption of the genuine cultural practices is not a novelty as Nicholson-Lord states: