Europe Feels Pinch As Americans Stay Home
 

May 30, 2003: Europe Feels Pinch As Americans Stay Home

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/inte...Americans.html

A nose-diving dollar, fears of being terrorist targets and the anti-American sentiment that resounded across Europe during the Iraq war are combining to keep U.S. citizens away.

Fears of SARS, a potentially deadly respiratory illness, also gets some blame, but since Europe has largely escaped the disease, the weaker dollar seems a more likely culprit.

The drop in tourism to Europe isn't easy to categorize [but] what seems universal is nostalgia for the American big spender.

"Five Americans spend as much as 100 Europeans," said Konstantinos Koufinakos, a Greek merchant married to an American.

Works both ways I guess! Though it is cheaper for Europeans to visit the US the tourist authorities in Orlando are lamenting the sharp decline in European and Asian Tourists. SARS is definitely affecting Asian tourists, but the only reason the authorities can come up with as to the decline in European visitors is fear of terrorism and anti-europeanism.

I clicked on to your link but the nasty New York Times has done something to stop us from even accessing that! I'm taking them off my "favorites" list as they want you to subscribe in order to see anything. Alas, more and more newspapers and magazines on the web are doing this. Anyway, thanks for your review of the article.

Two Canadians off to Scotland in September. I am sure Dor will set the trade imbalance right.

So true, CharlieB!

The travel company I work for has just cancelled its planned charter flights from Zurich to SF for the summer due to lack of demand. This in spite of the falling USD!

Since our route to Calgary & Vancouver is doing OK, it would appear that this is more of a political statement by Swiss travelers than a general reluctance to fly long haul.

Hopefully hotheads in both Europe and the US will realize what a mess they're making before this animosity gets out of hand - or has it already?

Andre

Daph, I don't know what you're talking about -- I was able to access the Times article without any trouble.

Europeans are very informed about American veiws. Thanks to all the recent anti-European crap concerning George Bush's war they are less willing to come here and we are less willing to go there. This administration has destroyed generations-long relationships. Bush publicly called Germany and France "The old Europe". Very foolish and dangerous.

We're going to Italy in July because I figured we'd get great rates and crowds would be down. Wrong! So many transatlantic flights have been cancelled that we're paying top dollar ($850 pp) for a really inconvenient flight--close to 18 hours each way (Philadelphia-Rome). (Granted, part of the problem was that I waited til about 8 weeks before departure before booking.) I think we got a decent rate on the land package but it sure isn't the bargain of the century.

Anonymous- you are correct. I think that they had me registered under my former e-mail address. But what I said still goes for certain French news magazines like Le Point. We are still going to the U.K. France and Italy in August but we have changed some of our reservations to cheaper hotels [not that they were deluxe to begin with!].

One country that does not seem to be suffering unduly from American reluctance to travel is Ireland.Aer Lingus has reported a 19% increase in traffic between the U.S. and Ireland so far this year.Many of them from what I can see on this board stay in B and Bs where the cost remains quite reasonable.The good value fares though have disappeared but will probably reappear in September.

Let's be realistic here, does anybody realy care if French and Germans no longer visit the US? I'm so tired of people using this board to vent their political gripes.

Sorry strings,

But we people who live in tourist areas of the US DO care ..our service employees in Fl are being laid off and even Disney has closed some of their resorts. The parking lots at some outlet malls were just about empty last sunday morning..very unusual and bad for our economy, which is bad enough to begin with.

Strings --

>> Let's be realistic here, does anybody realy care if French and Germans no longer visit the US? I'm so tired of people using this board to vent their political gripes. >>

Isn't that what you just did? Or was your gripe more bigoted than political?

Hi

just to put this into perspective.

France has 80m tourists each year (more than USA) of whom less than 2m are from USA.

Sure any reduction is missed. And any travel company devoted solely to US visitors is struggling.

But it's small beer compared to total tourists ?

Yesterday I needed to drive along the coast here, and there was no noticeable reduction in traffic.

Peter
http://tlp.netfirms.com

It doesn't seem that the issue here is a political issue or gripe but one of economics.

Strings, just because an issue isn't important to your personal life doesn't mean it's not important. These things manage to create a domino effect in any economy. Those laid off US tourism workers aren't going to be buying the products or services from the companies that you and/or your family are employed by.

I don't mind getting mildly political though, despite the chances that someone won't like it. When they found those tapes about the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden stated that the goal was to strike at the heart of the western economy; to destroy the western alliance; and change our lives.

Here we are not two years later actively carrying out that agenda. Former allies are at each other's throats. Bin Laden despised Hussein anyway (bonus points). Governments are at each throats. People are doing an excellent job of convincing themselves that travel is unsafe, that people elsewhere dislike them, etc - wrecking the travel industry in the process. More layoffs, more dominoes. And people proudly declare how little they care. Sometimes I'm not convinced that this wasn't the plan all along.

Strings - prior to you post, only jors post had anything the least bit political. You alone have turned it into a political diatribe. Yes, tourism effects both you and me, and the decrease in trans-atlantic tourism will eventually effect your pocketbook just as it effects Rene's, Hans's, and Carlo's.

Interesting article, Capo, but I thought Casa Botin's speciality was roast pig.

If you check my bio you will see that I have never before made a political comment whereas another poster on this thread does often. I'm tired of the everyday Bush bashing, and I'm a democrat. Feel free to start slamming me again though, and slamming our president. I see some people get a lot of joy in saying negative things about Bush every day, and you know who you are, and you know where this thread was headed.

To Anonymous - Daph is right, I could not access the article either without registering! Very annoying all this registration.....

It only takes a couple minutes to register if you really want to read the article.