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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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The residents of Quebec City and city authorities have done everything to attract as many tourists as possible in recent years but it seems that some of the new inventions have gone too far and already clash with the image of the city as a 17th century jewelry. Let's take for example the new modern cruise terminal. It was thought to be just the next step of pumping up the number of international tourists. In fact it can ruin the image of the city as place of world historic heritage, declared by UNESCO.

For years residents have fought against plans for building the new cruise terminal; first of all, because its design was considered to be horrible, and second, because there was no place for such gigantic modern structure near the urban reserve of picturesque 17th century houses. Such a residents' group fought with success many years ago against building the IMAX Theater. Then they succeeded, now they lost the battle against big tourist money.

As a matter of fact, the new "monster" as it's called in Quebec City - the cruise terminal with a 50-meter (150 feet) footbridge that leads passengers to the customs and immigration offices - was designed and ordered not by the city public authorities but by the city harbor authority. It was finished in the beginning of the present summer tourist season at the cost of $23 million CAD and is expected to handle a record 80 cruise ships and 70,000 passengers expected to dock at Quebec City this summer. That's up from the 48,000 cruise passengers who arrived in 2001, but only a small fraction of some 4 million who visit the city each year.

As we saw in the fate of Niagara Falls, when the tourist interests clash with nature (Niagara Falls) or with the cultural heritage (Quebec City), the battle will inevitably be won by the big money interests. So far Quebec City was primarily a government village, where almost half of the labor force works for the provincial government. This picture will change soon as the government begins to cut the fat and fire the excessive employees. The only way for the city to survive and successfully develop its economy will be to bet on tourism as a main source of revenues. Local residents will have to make additional concessions such as the new cruise terminal. It was just the first step. The next will follow soon.

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Quebec City information:

• History: Quebec City was founded on the St. Lawrence in 1608 by French explorer Samuel de Champlain. In 1759 British forces occupied the city and put an end to the French colonies in Canada.
• City population: 170,000; of the greater urban region: 633,000.
• Average price of a detached bungalow: $87,000 CAD;
• average monthly rent of 2BR apartment: $530 CAD ($1 US = $1.58 CAD).
• Main business: government agencies, tourism. 4 million visitors per year or 20% increase since 1990, including 1 million non-Canadian travelers from 43 different countries.
• Ranked 16th among world destination cities (according to the Condé Nast Traveler, 1997)
• Ranked 8th among favorite North American city and state destinations (National Motorcoach Network survey, 1996).
• Satisfaction rating among the tourists: 98% for visitor reception; 99% for safety.
• Hotel capacity: 11,000 rooms.

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