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Europeans try to entice U.S. tourists

May 07, 2008 | Online Travel

The "rich American tourist" of the past is now viewed as a poor cousin. Europeans who count the USA as the No. 1 source of tourists fear they are staying away because of the economy and a weak dollar that is trading at a record low against the euro and a 16-year low against the British pound.

Harry’s Bar in Venice, a landmark where novelist Ernest Hemingway and other celebrities used to hold court, is offering a 20% discount on food for “American victims” of a bad economy. Britain’s tourism agency, VisitBritain, is letting Americans buy discount cards in dollars so they can see the sights for less. Ireland is trying to entice Yanks with a new advertising campaign: “Ireland, Can you afford not to go?”

“We have less and less Americans in Paris,” says Thomas Deschamps of the Paris Convention and Visitors Office. Paris saw a 5.5% drop in U.S. tourists last year, about 90,000 fewer than the almost 1.6 million in 2006, Deschamps says.

Looking ahead, Amy Ziff of Travelocity says bookings for countries that use the euro, such as France, Italy and Spain, are 15% lower than last summer. But bookings are up 16% for Eastern European countries that don’t use the euro, she says.

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