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Source: Reuters
A bumpy European economic recovery and battered currency have
helped stall European tourism to North America especially the
Caribbean and Mexico, though Canada is faring better, tourism
experts say.
The number of Europeans visiting the United States and Canada fell
10% last year, according to government data, as cash-strapped
consumers opted for vacations nearer home and business travel
froze.
Despite the debt crises buffeting Greece and some other European
countries and a euro which has weakened up to 15% against the US
dollar this year, the number of Europeans visiting the United
States remained flat for January and February, said the US Office
of Travel and Tourism Industries.
The Office described March, for which figures have not yet been
released, as generally positive, but said April figures would be
hurt by flight cancellations due to an ash cloud from a volcano
eruption in Iceland.
"It may take a while for people to feel good enough about their
future job prospects to get back into the vacation cycle that they
had enjoyed," said Rich Harrill, director of the International
Tourism Research Institute at the University of South
Carolina.
"Everybody checks exchange rates," he said.
"People are going to continue to look at how much will they get
for their money and consider alternatives."
The US Travel Association said European tourism to the United
States has never fully recovered since the September 11, 2001,
hijacked airliner attacks.
"The perception that the United States is not as welcoming as it
was pre-9/11 continues to drive visitors away," said the
association's Geoff Freeman, adding that Washington needed to
overhaul visa and entry processes.
"These visitors are walking stimulus packages," Freeman said.
"They come, they spend their money, they go home, and often with
a better impression of the United States."
Rough Caribbean summer
Canada appears to be faring a little better with the number of
Europeans visiting rising 6.4% for the first quarter of 2010
compared to last year boosted by the Winter Olympics in Vancouver
in February.
"I don't think we're seeing any decline, but we just hosted the
Olympics so we're sort of the hot commodity," said Amber Sessions,
a manager of media relations at Tourism Vancouver.
However, 16 of the 22 countries in the Caribbean Tourist
Organization saw a decline in European visitors between January and
April.
Several suffered a double digit fall.
European overall arrivals fell 4.3% in the first half of
2010.
"This situation is not expected to ease up in the coming summer as
unemployment in these economies remains high and consumer
confidence is low," the group said.
"Those countries heavily dependent on the European market are in
for a bumpy ride as in light of the current European economic
realities."
In Mexico some hotel and restaurant owners in the beach resort of
Playa del Carmen, a few miles south of Cancun, were also suffering
from a lack of European visitors.
"European tourism has dipped significantly this year.
There are fewer Italians, Spaniards and Germans," said Cesar Navarro, president of the local chapter of the National Restaurant Chamber.
Mexican tourists failed to make up the shortfall.
"There is national tourism now, but they generally spend 30% less
than foreigners," he said.
Spanish tourist Manuel Arroyo, 42, went ahead with a vacation to
Mexico with his wife and two children, but complained about how
expensive it was.
"It's more costly now," said Arroyo, a municipal employee.
"I have to spend more because the euro has devalued and the European economy is in crisis, while it is improving in the United States."
