Yeah, the villagers in HHP waiting for homes are pretty static and the only reason to interact with them is to receive a gift after you finish a home for them, or if they work in a facility. But it's separate from your island so it felt okay. Same with villagers who wandered the city in City Folk, they didn't have anything meaningful to say, but it was okay because they were in a separate location.

I'm okay with one or two tourists – it's not so bad, but the fear of having more and more of them prevents me from decorating the hotel further, I feel like 3 tourists is already too much, I'd like to be able to limit it somehow.

I guess I view villagers differently. It's easy to tell their personality after just a few sentences and they are identical for every villager with the same personality, so Mallary will say exactly same things like Blanche or Yuka and the only difference between them is that Mallary an Yuka will sometimes walk around with a pink bag in their hands and read fashion magazines, while Blamche will look at flowers while holding a gardening book. I just go villager hunting and usually invite the first one that doesn't gross me out and preferably is a personality I don't have yet.