Here Come the Foreign Tourists

Whether they call it dinero, Geld or argent, it all means money

They are everywhere, camping in Alaska, stamping to the beat of New Orleans jazz, tramping up Nob Hill, wolfing down lobsters on Nantucket, shooting white water on the Colorado River, besieging Bloomingdale's. Foreign tourists love a bargain as much as anybody else, and thanks to the decline of the dollar, the U.S. rather suddenly has become the world's major travel bargain. In consequence, the nation is finally getting a nice slice of international tourism, which is one of the biggest and fastest growing (up 18% last year, to $60 billion) items of global trade.

Last year 18.6 million tourists from abroad came to the land of Kojak and Huckleberry Finn, and the total is expected to top 20 million in 1978. Though waiters and cab drivers complain that they are not the world's best tippers, the foreign visitors will spend more than ever --nearly $9 billion, or $450 per person. Americans abroad still outspend them by almost $2 billion, but the gap is narrowing rapidly. Most important, foreign tourism is creating jobs in the service industries, which employ many blacks and Hispanic Americans.

The initial beneficiaries are the bigtime airlines, travel agencies, hotel and motel chains and their restaurants. But as the tourists travel within the U.S., they deal more with small businesses and entrepreneurs: Mom and Pop diners, souvenir shops, camping guides, local gas stations. Foreign spending can be a bonanza. Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Hotel, a rococo relic of past prestige, came back from the brink of bankruptcy by becoming a mecca for overseas tourists who still associate it with glamour and bathing beauties. Tony Alonzo, a Cuban refugee who opened a small store in Miami in 1965, has built a million-dollar business by supplying Latin visitors with products that either cost them much more at home or are not available at all because of import restrictions. "Some tourists spend their vacation in my store," he says. "They buy their whole year's needs of brands they know--Arrow shirts, Levi Strauss and Wrangler jeans, Pierre Cardin and Christian Dior." When leaving Miami, Latin American tourists often require a second and sometimes a third cab to tote their goodies to the airport.

Boston's Neptune Lobster shop, located near the moored U.S.S. Constitution, sends a fishmonger to walk alongside the busloads of foreign tourists, displaying a 15-lb. monster lobster. The Germans are by far the most susceptible. Says Dietmar Kruesel, a member of the West German consulate: "A lot of them carry frozen lobsters home in their luggage."

Shopping is a major enticement because of the devalued dollar and the fact that markups, taxes and tariffs are lower in the U.S. than in many other countries. An article in the Paris trend-setting fashion magazine Elle has attracted many French women to Filene's basement, citadel of the frugal New England matron, for frocks that sell for a fraction of the price in Paris boutiques. On Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif, Middle Eastern and Japanese tourists snap up $700 Omega watches, $500 Gucci handbags and $500 Brioni suits. While those prices seem stiff, they are often less than half what they would be in Tehran or Tokyo.

The impact of American movies and TV is evident. The Japanese, who love cowboys, are intrigued by anything Western. Says an employee of Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles: "They buy cowboy hats, Indian dolls and jewelry and pioneer bonnets for the women." The Japanese are also fascinated by the glitter and tinsel of Las Vegas. The Germans are mesmerized by the wide open spaces in the American West and the grandeur of the redwood forests; they often rent campers to tour the national parks.

Foreigners are enchanted by amusement parks, where they can say hello to Mickey Mouse and see the embodiments of American fantasies. At California's Disneyland, nearly 9% of all visitors are foreign, and the percentage is only slightly smaller at Disney World in Florida. Arabs are thrilled most of all by the roller coasters. A Kuwaiti businessman was disappointed when told he could not rent California's Magic Mountain amusement park for a day exclusively for his party of twelve.

The U.S. is now attracting mostly first-time visitors from overseas, but if the nation wants to lure them back for second or third trips, it must improve and expand services. Only a few major cities have well-staffed visitor services that can help non-English-speaking tourists find their way about or locate a doctor on short notice. In hotels, restaurants and stores, it often seems that any language is spoken --just so it is English. Any money will be changed--so long as it is the U.S. dollar.

New Orleans International Airport does not even have a bank in it.

At the request of the U.S. Senate, the consulting firm Arthur D. Little, Inc. produced an ambitious plan for improving the U.S.'s performance. It proposes consolidating into one department the work of 31 federal agencies involved in tourism. A streamlining of the federal machinery might help, if it did not create more layers of bureaucracy. While the Little report dealt mainly with domestic tourism, the U.S. also needs a robust national tourist office--almost every European country has one--that could encourage travel by more aggressive advertising and information programs. At present, the U.S. Travel Service has only six branches abroad--three in Europe and one each in Canada, Mexico and Japan--and a foreign budget of $8.7 million.

Still, the main promotion and improvement of the U.S. as a tourist attraction should be left to private enterprise. As business people develop a yen for yen, marks, francs and all those other currencies, they will begin to concentrate their efforts on making the U.S. a more enticing playground and shopping center for those worldly tourists.

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