Back to Wings and Wheels Again

The American tourist is once again back on the road. Tethered by the recession to their backyards for the past two travel seasons, Americans by the millions are taking to wings and wheels this summer. With both the travel season and the recovery well under way, money in the bank, and the shock of 60-c--70-c- per gal. fuel absorbed and (almost) forgotten, vacationers are swarming to favorite haunts in numbers near--and in some cases well above--prerecession levels. In the process, they are making cash registers whir and credit-card imprinters click from Honolulu to the Outer Hebrides.

By the end of the year, according to Government and travel-industry estimates, some 100 million Americans will have toured their own country, spending well above $85 billion, possibly $10 billion more than last year. They will spend another $10 billion abroad, rediscovering old holiday favorites, such as Britain, where the newest attraction is the $1.80 pound (down from $2.40 in 15 months). Even France, where the franc last week dropped to 20-c- for the first time in more than two years, was welcoming American tourists in big numbers once again. And many of those American travelers are likely to meet foreigners going the other way. For the first six months of 1976, visitors to the U.S. from overseas totaled more than 5 million, nearly double last year's figure.

In the U.S. there is hardly a tourist attraction that is not mobbed. Two weeks ago, 16,800 toured the Ford Motor Co.'s 1,200-acre Rouge manufacturing complex in Dearborn, Mich.; attendance there was up 36% over last year. San Francisco's cable cars are jammed, and waits for rides can take 20 minutes. Near Los Angeles, a one-hour wait to tour Universal Studios is not uncommon, and the Sheraton-Universal Hotel is filled to capacity. Visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania face a two-hour wait on weekends for one of the 77 guides; 2 million toured the historic Civil War battleground in July--a 40% increase from last year.

Bicentennial Festivities. Encouraged by air fares that allow free stopovers in California, Midwesterners are flocking to the West Coast on their way to Hawaii. "It's like getting two vacations for the price of one," says a Chicago travel agent, whose business is up 12%. Once in Hawaii, travelers are staying longer. Says Maurice Kelley Jr., Continental Airlines' vice president for market development: "A ten-day stay is not nearly as unusual as it was a couple of years ago."

In general, the Bicentennial events in the East did not attract Westerners in overwhelming numbers. One explanation, put forth by James L. Kerrigan, president of Greyhound Lines, whose business is off 6% this summer, is that "people worried a lot about overcrowding and a possible lack of hotel space in the East." As it turned out, the fear was unjustified. One-fourth of Philadelphia's hotel rooms were unoccupied during the Fourth of July weekend; hotels in Washington and Boston were also nowhere near filled.

Greyhound has now dropped its once heavy Bicentennial promotion, and is concentrating instead on bargain fares to lure foreign tourists and the typical lower-income bus passenger, who was hurt more than affluent Americans during the recession. It has reintroduced the 15-day "Ameripass"--a $165 booklet of blank tickets that enable travelers to go anywhere on Greyhound's system.

The big gainer from travel this summer has been New York City. Operation Sail, among other Bicentennial festivities, plus the Democratic National Convention, lured thousands of visitors to the Big Apple. So far this summer, the city's 100,000 first-class hotel rooms have been 73% occupied, compared with just 58% last year. City officials say that the convention alone had a "spending impact" of $25 million on the New York economy. Says Albert Formicola, vice president of the city's hotel association: "The convention and the Fourth of July gave New York the shot in the arm it needed; the dollars and cents will follow later." Some of the jingle has already arrived. On a sunny Sunday, 9,000 to 10,000 people ascend one of the city's newer attractions, the observatory on top of the 110-story World Trade Center.

With the possible exception of New York City and its bankers, no one has been more pleased with the return of the free-spending American tourist than the Europeans. Lured by heavy promotions from airlines and government tourist agencies ("Trade two weeks of your life for 1,000 years of glory"), Americans are packing European hotels, crowding car-rental agencies and being avidly welcomed and wooed by the airlines flying the highly competitive transatlantic route (see following story).

U.S. travelers to Britain are expected to total 1.5 million, up from last year's 1.3 million, or about 15% of summer tourists to the U.K. More than a million Americans are expected in France this year, up 100,000 from 1975. Already they are filling more than half of the Hotel Ritz ($90 for a double room). Down south, in St.-Tropez, a fourth of the stylish Byblos Hotel's guests are Americans. The manager jokes that he may have to limit the number of Americans "or it'll turn into an American hotel." The other favored countries on the American tourists' map this year, after Britain and France, are Italy, Spain and West Germany.

Theater Tickets. The renewed surge in domestic and foreign travel is only partly explained by the economic recovery. To their credit, travel agents have devised ingenious plans to make the tourist's dollar work more efficiently. This year's prime example: the one-stop-inclusive tour charter, or OTC. Approved last fall by the Civil Aeronautics Board, OTC plans allow travelers to choose among dozens of destinations at prices that include air fare, hotel room, ground transportation, taxis and tips.

Thus a summer trip from New York to London, including seven nights in a hotel and two theater tickets, costs $369; regular fares range from $410 (when reserved 60 days ahead of time) to $784. OTC plans have bugs: travelers must book 15 to 30 days in advance, and ticket prices go up unless flights are 80% booked. But such plans, plus the technology of jet aviation, have expanded travel from the province of the very rich to the mildly affluent--and have helped make the summer of '76 a busy one for both tourists and the businesses that depend on them.

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