Europe to American Tourists: Wish You Were Here!
nytimes.com
It is not exactly the routine for Queen Elizabeth II to visit a theme park, but she did so in June, traveling to the miniature models of Legoland near the royal palace at Windsor to survey a tiny likeness of herself in molded plastic inspecting the equally Lilliputian guard. Neither is it quite the norm for Prime Minister Tony Blair to do sound bites for television and Web site commercials. But he did so this summer, urging Americans to visit Britain "for great times with good friends."
The reason for both events was a sinking feeling among Britain's tour operators that this year, after the Iraq war, SARS and a stubborn economic slowdown, visitors - particularly Americans - might well stay away, jeopardizing Britain's $120-billion-a-year tourism industry. As the peak summer season unfolded, it rapidly emerged that the British were not the only ones to worry.
Across Europe, from the Colosseum to the Eiffel Tower, the number of American visitors has been declining, caused in part by the dollar's weakness against the euro and the British pound, but also by a mix of factors ranging from terrorism fears to a reluctance to visit countries, most notably France, that opposed the war in Iraq.
Even on the Normandy beaches, where American veterans traditionally journey, Americans this year have been staying away, according to tour operators there. The story is similar from Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin to the Tower of London.
Nor is it just a question of numbers. Americans spent more time and money than most other tourists when they visit European cities. "The golden age is over," an Italian bus driver told a tour guide, Sylvie Hogg, in Rome after ferrying American visitors around the city without receiving the kind of tips he would once have expected.
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