Tourism is usually perceived in the category of tourist destinations, tourist products, tourist typologies, etc. These terms correspond with specific disciplinary approaches but say little of the essence of the phenomenon of tourism. Similar to the despised concept of shopping, tourism is a complex social practice which has a strong impact on the urban reality that cannot be superficially criticised or uncritically accepted.  It is especially apparent in countries like Croatia, whose economy, but also identity, depend on tourism. In an impoverished country that lacks rational imagination of the future, tourism and touristification are experienced as the last chance of survival. Historical centres become Airbnb enclaves, the coast is covered with apartment dystopias and large infrastructural projects are shaped and sized in accordance with tourism (a useful example is the priority of car and air traffic over railway traffic). Despite isolated protests, tourism and touristification are accepted by social consensus, without the recognition of all the implications of such an act. As will be shown, submission to tourism results with complex effects that dodge local regulatory mechanisms and are not easily included in simple scenarios of sustainable development. Constructive criticism, however, does not imply advocating less tourism or its administrative control. We first have to understand the complex logic of the phenomenon of tourism, where the virtual and the physical domain play a large part.