Europe too expensive for tourists

Great European cities are getting too
expensive for North Americans to visit.

Friends returning from Europe are all telling me the same thing - they're not going back!

Between the euro being so strong against North American currencies and the cost of everything - especially hotels and restaurants - being so high, they tell me Europe has priced itself out of their league.

And with the announcement this week that major carriers like Delta, KLM and Air France are cutting back on transatlantic flights - due to high fuel costs and empty seats - getting to Europe is going to cost much more thanks to the decrease in capacity.

Cash-strapped European countries, which have been closing up tourist offices in North America because they don't have the money to operate them, are facing stiff competition from the Asia/Pacific region, mainly China, where Canadian tour companies can offer great 2-for-1 deals (see http://www.toureast.com/ for examples) because costs of Asian hotels are so much lower and airline capacity continues to expand to that part of the world.

Europe has no one to blame but itself, of course. They thought they could keep raising prices and North Americans would keep coming. But, with the emergence of Asia, where most of the new hotels in the world are being built, and the aggressive marketing campaigns launched in Gulf Coast countries like Dubai, North Americans have been presented with lots of valued options that European countries like France, Italy and Great Britain just can't match.

This week the World Tourism Organization predicted China will soon replace France as the No. 1 travel destination in  the world - and I predict that in five years, three of the Top 5 spots on the organization's tourism rankings' list will be occupied by Asian countries.

North American travellers are looking for bargains - the continued increase in online travel bookings is proof of that - but Europe has none to offer.

Visit Britain downsizing in Canada

The exodus and/or downsizing in Canada of European tourism bureaus continues at a record pace.

I just learned that Visit Britain has decided to drop a couple of employees at its Toronto office - leaving two people to defend British Tourist interests here in Canada. The downsizing from four to two will be complete by summer's end and is all part of the British government's budget cutbacks.

I've also learned that Visit Britain's offices in New York will soon close and tourism staff will be moved to Britain's consulate offices in the Big Apple.

In the past few years, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and the Czech Republic have all abandoned Canada - citing cost cutbacks as the reason - and Germany's once powerful tourist office in Toronto has been reduced to one desk in a local PR company. How sad!

While others pull out, Switzerland is staying in Canada. Ironically, the Swiss have just moved into offices in the German consulate on University Ave., which were once occupied by the German National Tourism Board. The Germans hired a Toronto PR firm last year to handle their tourism interets in Canada.

We hear that cash-strapped Greece and Ireland may be the next to leave town.

European Union countries are investing all their euros in emerging tourism markets like China and India and have none left for long-time supporters like Canada.

The EU tourism folks did not even renew the contract of their fine long-time Canadian representative John Stephenson this year.

Maybe it's time Canadian travellers give up on Europe since they've given up on us!