Europe Is Out; U.S., Canada Are In : Terrorism, Dollar Decline Boost Domestic Tourism

Susan Horowitz decided against a European vacation this year while watching television images of maintenance workers mopping up the blood at Rome Airport after Palestinian terrorists launched machine-gun and grenade attacks on travelers there and in Vienna last December.

“Who needs the anxiety, especially on a vacation?” said the Queens, N.Y., housewife as she munched on crab cocktail at Fishermen’s Wharf in San Francisco, her alternate destination.

Fear of terrorism, now exacerbated by Wednesday’s bomb explosion aboard a Rome-to-Athens Trans World Airlines flight, is casting a pall this year over travel to Europe. Enjoying gasoline prices that have made trips in the United States cheaper and confronted with a declining dollar that has made travel overseas far more expensive, Americans are staying in more familiar territory.

The economic and political trends have converged to produce one of the most profound shifts in vacation travel patterns since the dawn of the jet age. Europe is out, the United States and Canada are in.

“I’ve never seen such a dramatic turnaround,” said Richard V. Cammisa Jr., publisher of Travel Industry Indicators, a New York-based trade publication. He predicted big gains for domestic tourism and at least a 15% drop in Americans visiting Europe this year.

Wednesday’s bomb explosion aboard a TWA flight will likely scare off thousands more. Four passengers died when they were sucked through a hole in the Boeing 727’s fuselage.

50% Drop in U.S. Tourists

Attempting to counter the fears of potential U.S. visitors, the Greek National Tourist Agency held a press conference at which a spokesman noted that Greece had only provided “safe haven” to the crippled jet.

Even before the TWA bombing, Greece was expected to suffer a 50% drop in U.S. tourism this year despite a $3-million promotional campaign and beefed up security at the Athens airport.

Greece became associated with terrorism in the public mind after U.S. officials criticized the then-lax security at the Athens airport after the hijacking of an Athens-to-Cairo TWA jet by Shia Muslim extremists last June. A U.S. Navy diver was murdered and other Americans on the flight were held hostage in Beirut for 16 days.

The biggest beneficiaries of the trend toward domestic tourist travel will be such destinations as California, Florida, Hawaii and Alaska, say members of the travel industry. Vancouver, British Columbia, site of the well-promoted Expo 86 world’s fair, looks like a big winner, with the Caribbean Islands also showing strength.

Signs of Boom

Months before the summer vacation season, there are signs that a domestic travel boom is under way:

--American Airlines, primarily a domestic carrier, filled a “phenomenal” 70% of its seats in March, compared to just 55% last year, said spokesman Joseph Stroup. “Most of that gain come from pleasure travel,” he said, adding that bookings for April are also strong.

--Hawaii’s tourist industry had its best February in history. Nearly 446,000 people visited the islands, up 7.4% from a year earlier, said Lindy Boyes, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii Visitors Bureau. The state, which had 4.8 million visitors in 1985, should easily surpass its goal of 5 million visitors this year, setting a new record.

--At Disneyland last week, “busy isn’t the word,” said the night manager of the Conestoga Hotel in Anaheim. “It’s been madness.” Although the theme park no longer discloses attendance figures, “it’s been a record year so far,” a spokesman said.

--North of the border, Vancouver’s Expo, which won’t even open until May 2, has presold nearly 13 million visits. “Everybody seems to want to go there, but a lot of the flights and hotels are sold out,” said William Single, manager of Getz International Travel, a San Francisco travel agency.

Small Boost for Asia

Asian vacation destinations will get a boost, though experts say it will be small. The long flying time between the United States and Asia tends to discourage Americans from vacationing there. The Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc nations, perceived as “safe” by terrorist-wary travelers, will also likely get a windfall, travel agents say.

Overall, though, “the feeling we’re getting is that there’s no place like home,” said Chris Avian, an agent with New York’s Liberty Travel. “We’re getting a lot of Alaska inquiries, something that’s never happened before. Hawaii and California are also popular. They’re buying anything in the U.S.A.”

The shift in tourist sentiment has prompted about half a dozen cruise lines to pull ships out of the Mediterranean. Most have been redeployed to Alaska, where the cruise business is booming this year. State tourism officials expect 300 sailings this year, up from 230 in 1985. Many of the ships will sail from Vancouver, allowing the tourists to combine a cruise with a visit to Expo.

Other ships diverted from the Mediterranean will cruise the north Atlantic, calling at ports in New England and Canada, or sail from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles via the Panama Canal.

Following Public Opinion

“Rather than try to change public opinion, we decided to follow it,” said George Cruys, a Royal Viking Line marketing official in San Francisco. The line has sliced this year’s scheduled sailings in the Mediterranean from 10 to three, “and even those won’t go anywhere near Greece or Egypt or Israel.”

Those three nations are suffering the brunt of American anxiety over terrorism. Travel to Israel was down around 40% in February. Tourists are being scared off by regional tensions as well as last year’s hijackings of the TWA plane and the Achille Lauro cruise ship. An elderly wheelchair-bound American was executed by that Italian cruise ship’s hijackers and his body thrown overboard.

Safety Stressed

“Instead of being able to promote what our country has to offer tourists, we have to spend all our time explaining how safe it is and what good security measures we have taken,” complained Shmuel Zurel, director of the Israel Government Tourist Office in Los Angeles.

American tourists are also staying away from Egypt, where rioting policemen sacked hotels near the pyramids last month.

Even European countries perceived as “safe” are losing American tourists.

“After three strong years, Europe has played itself out,” said publisher Cammisa. “Prices are sharply higher this year, and vacationers are extremely price-conscious.”

(In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesman confirmed that passport applications are down sharply this year, though he couldn’t provide specific figures.)

The cheaper dollar has had a major impact. The U.S. dollar has declined 30% in value against major foreign currencies in the past year, significantly raising the cost of most overseas travel while making it cheaper for foreigners to visit the United States.

Hideo Yamamoto, a Japanese engineer, said he is honeymooning in California as a result of the strengthened yen. “It costs much less to come to the U.S.,” he said.

Cammisa suggested that the trend toward domestic travel will be reinforced by the patriotic extravaganza scheduled around the unveiling of the renovated Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July. The nationally televised event “won’t be a huge tourist draw, but I think it will symbolize the rekindled patriotism and interest in things--and places--American.”

All segments of California’s $31-billion-a-year travel industry are likely to benefit. “Our indicators strongly suggest that there’s going to be quite a surge in California,” said J. Marshall Glick, manager of the California State Automobile Assn.’s domestic travel department. “The economy’s good, there’s plenty of gas available and the price keeps going down.”

The good old American driving tour is making a strong comeback as a result of the lowest gasoline prices in eight years.

The association had 4,342 requests for routings within the state during the month of January, compared to 3,277 a year before. “It’s like when gasoline sold for 30 cents a gallon,” he said. “People are getting on the road again.”

Richard Castro, a San Jose construction worker, took advantage of lower gasoline prices to drive his family to Disneyland last week. “I guess I wasn’t the only one,” he said, surveying an Easter week throng that lined up 10-deep at a Tomorrowland snack bar.

California is also well-poised to benefit from the $5 million it spent last year to promote tourism, its first such expenditure. “It’s going to be a tremendous year,” said California’s director of tourism, Flo Snyder.

“Disneyland is still having some spillover from its 30th anniversary promotion last year. The new aquarium in Monterey has surpassed its greatest expectations,” she said.

“San Francisco remains a world renowned magnet, and Los Angeles is still getting a boost from the Olympics.”

Times staff writer Carol McGraw contributed to this story from Los Angeles.