I would have thought chess was experiencing a boom all over the world thanks to the internet? Maybe club and tournament participation is down, but I seriously wonder whether there are more people playing chess now than ever before?

I do not see the situation so pessimistic.

At first we have a number problem. Our society is aging. When i went in the school we had around 100 pupils in our age group, today there are only 40-50. Smaller towns and villages will suffer because many people have to move away when they want work and earn money. So i think that the number of chess players will generally decrease and there will be a higher decrease in small communities. But the decrease will not stop at the bottom.

On the other side i see many local trainers have success to recruit youngsters and teach them chess. Even in my little
town it seems possible. We were invited by the local school to organize a school chess group because parents are interested in chess! 

And i still think there are many intersting tournaments in Germany. Look at the schedule in the "Rochade Europa" and often you can find small accommodations with bed and breakfast around 30 Euro (and below). The Deutsche Bahn offers often low budget tariffs so much is possible.

the problem really is that chess is also somewhat expensive in terms of time and money ... there are not many tournaments ... and if you want to go there, that means you have to travel and book a hotel ... or you have everyday stress of driving like 100 km one-way in the car ... and then you play like 4 days in a row only chess ... 4 days is just too much ...

also chess is a very individualistic game, players can't take losses, they seem to them as an insult to their intelligence ... in others sports you appreciate other players if they play good and a you are also more likely to accept a loss, but not so in chess ...

also there are not so many awards ... I don't know I am rated 2000 and I won everything there is for me ...
the next step would for me would be to reach 2300 ...
and it's just too far away ... I could get there if I would dedicate myself solely to chess in any of my freetime, but right now I don't really deem this dedication worth it ... there should be more awards ... like everytime you cross 100 points ...

but maybe the times of chess are now over ...
intellectual things happen right now at home in the computer ... world is becoming more and more superficial ... you can't talk with anyone anymore about other things than the weather, the footballclub or superficially about some daily newsevents ... but people don't have any culture anymore ... they just learn enough to get their diploma in things, but they don't develop any culture ... this society has become acultural ... and everything intellectual is just happening inside in your home ... but you don't go outside anymore for this

really sometimes I think it would be better to live in the early 1900's, people did go to coffeehouses to talk about culture, to play chess ... now everyone is living in his virtual worlds ... and only go outside to drink beer or to make vacation ...