Every year, tens of millions of tourists visit Seattle’s Pike Place Market, the Elliot Bay waterfront, and sports stadiums.  

That tourism industry is growing -- this year, a record number of cruise ships are expected to fill Seattle’s piers. Next year, the population of Seattle will swell- to about double its normal size when it hosts the Word Cup. 

On today's episode, Seattle needs tourists to keep downtown economically viable — so how do we make sure they don’t love the city to death? 

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Booming is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Carol Smith. Our producers are Lucy Soucek and Alec Cowan. Our hosts are Joshua McNichols and Monica Nickelsburg.

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