Tourism explanation

Can someone explain tourism to me? I thought I understood, but may not.

I had a Great Musician so I sent him to perform in another Civ. That grants a large amount of tourism to that civ and some to others as well. (Did I get that right?)

Question: How does that help me?

Punchline is, it's helpful to you (but you already suspected that!).

Tourism is central to the culture victory system, but pushing your tourism has ancillary benefits (both offensive and defensive) even if you are not pursuing a culture victory. I would suggest that you review this article from the Civ 5 War Academy (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=523375).

For the impact of tourism outside the narrow confines of the culture victory, see this portion of that article: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=523375#7

Here's my confusion:
From the article (thanks for that, BTW):

Great Musician Concert Tour - The 'Culture Bomb' of Civ5 - Great Musicians do not only create Great Works of Music, but can also go on a Concert Tour and this is a great use of them to break through a Civ with whom your Influence is rising slowly, particularly when you've almost won. Simply get Open Borders with another Civ and send the Great Musician into their territory. The strength of a Great Musician's 'Perform Concert Tour' Ability is determined by your Tourism output on the turn the Great Musician is produced, and is 10x that value. So those born later and after you have completed some Theming Bonuses will be stronger. While inside the other Civ's borders, select this option to inject a lump sum of Tourism (10 turns worth) into their Civ and deliver 20% of this amount (2 turns worth your Tourism output) to all others.

How is giving the other Civ the Tourism helping me? Don't I want to raise Tourism for MY Civ?

It is your tourism that is being applied to that civ. You do not generate tourism for yourself -- think of tourism as the way you exert cultural influence over other civs, while culture is your defense against tourism from other civs.

For example, if you have generated cumulative 10,000 culture, while Civ A has accumulated 1,200 tourism against you and Civ B has accumulated 3,500 tourism against you, Civ A will be exotic to you (their tourism vs. you exceeds 10% of your cumulative culture), but Civ B will be familiar (their tourism exceeds 30% of your accumulated culture).

On the other hand, if Civ C's cumulative culture is only 6,000 culture, and your tourism vs. them is 1.200, you are exotic to them (20% tourism to culture), but if you have a Great Musician perform a concert tour on them that generates, say, 2,000 tourism in one go, your tourism vs. them will zoom to 3,200 and you will instantly be "popular" with them (since 3,200 > 50% of 6,000).

As the article describes, different levels of influence provide different bonuses (e.g., more science from trade routes), but also determine (once ideologies kick in) whether you or the other civ will start to experience dissent, or revolutionary wave, etc., with implications for happiness and whether you (or they) can retain your (or their) chosen ideology.

It's you that gets the benefit. Your culture influence rises esp against the civ you've sent the musicain to.

You can see how influential various civs are on the cultural screen.

I have never done this before, so now I have a new goal. I shall prevail!

When my Great Musician performs in the other Civ for that Tourism boost, should I see an increase in my Tourism level (the number next to the suitcase)? Is there a screen that displays Tourism and Culture for each other culture relative to my Civ?