> That would open up the possibility of tourists ...
We can hardly imagine what it will open up.
Nuclear power for one. Radwaste (and severe hazmats
generally) would no longer be a problem - just run 'em
up the rope and let 'em loose when their arc takes them
right into the Sun.
Another - global warming - if it's real, we can put
huge thin sun shades in between the Earth and Sun, at
one of the Lagrangian points.
You'd still need to give them a pretty substantial boost in order to reduce their solar orbital speed to the point where they'd fall into the sun. The earth moves in its orbit at 18 miles per second. You'd have to have a pretty long moment-arm above the surface to get it swinging that fast.