Europe feels America’s pinch

I’ve lived in Europe for a decade, and visited it for much longer than that. My city, Rome, Florence and London were always packed with American tourists and in Britain, this lean year, foreign visitors spent about $7.5 billion in the first six months of the year, the British Tourist Authority said, but less Americans came.
In Italy, where the number of American visitors was down 11 percent this year in the art cities of Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples, tourism employs about two million Italians and accounts for about one-twelfth (or much more if the black market is accounted for), of the economy. The slowdown in tourism could cost Italy about $2 billion in lost revenues, in part, because of Japan’s economic woes but also because there are fewer Americans visiting, The La Stampa newspaper reported.

I don’t hear so many Americans walking around my town of COMO and up on the lake near Laglio and Bellagio where they were always hunting for a picture of George Clooney’s villa. If Americans are taking staycations, then maybe, many here in Italy will too, although its hard to imagine them not having the regulation beach break in August. I guess that could be classed as a staycation.

What about you, are you staying home? Are you feeling the pinch?

Moneypenny