The most popular vacation destination on Earth is Heaven.

Located 80 miles south of New York City, in what used to be a peaceful New Jersey countryside, Heaven is currently the world's largest and most elaborate AWE (Amplified Wonder Experience). AWEs are tourist attractions that create intense emotional reactions by bombarding the senses and overloading the emotions. AWE designers combine the technology of motion picture special effects, mechanical simulators, and high involvement thrill rides with recent discoveries about how to stimulate and control the human mind. Although AWEs bend time, space, and reality, they allow tourists to go places and do things that "feel" even more vivid than real life.

Heaven is a good example of how AWEs work their magic. After a spectacular ride through a tunnel of light, disoriented participants enter Paradise. The aroma of fresh flowers and the sounds of ethereal music fill the air. Visitors feel soft breezes and witness millions of computer generated angels singing their names. They experience the sensation of floating and loose all track of time. Many weep, overcome by heightened feelings. At certain points in the journey, visitors even interact with historical characters that urge them to review their lives and set new goals for themselves.

Streets of gold and angelic choirs don't come cheap, of course. Heaven cost twelve billion dollars to build and requires a staff of 3,500 full time employees to maintain the mechanics and electronics of the massive facility. A one-day ticket cost $300. Although some oppose the whole concept, Heaven makes a sizeable profit. Other AWEs have not fared as well. Boston's Pilgrim Adventure closed after only three years. (Investors had clearly overestimated interest in early American history.) Even the stunning Tomb of the Pharaoh AWE in Cairo struggles to meet expenses and may close next year when an exact duplicate opens in California. North American tourists will probably visit the closer location and bypass Egypt. AWEs have also reduced travel to authentic sites. When the Roman Holiday AWE opened in Chicago, tourism to the real Rome dropped by 42 percent.

Many travel experts see the phenomenon moving in unpredictable directions as new AWEs stretch to attract tourists. Neanderthal Hunt in southwest France will expose visitors to terrifying animal attacks and bloody combat between prehistoric tribes. Visitors to Space Odyssey in Toronto, Canada will be offered small doses of the substance Mipsyolene (a legal and apparently harmless chemical) to become more suggestible and enhance their AWE experience. Even Heaven is experimenting with "controlled consciousness" (sleeplessness) and "auditory stimulation" (very loud noise) to intensify reactions.

AWEs accounted for 34 percent of tourist spending in 2031 and that percentage may double in next ten years. Use your problem solving skills to consider challenges that these technological marvels pose to twenty first century tourism. Solve the one challenge you think is most important.

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