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Americans are warming up to a European vacation"EUROPEAN VACATION" Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
03-29-2002 Winter travel to Europe was chilled by tight budgets and terrorism fears, even though the price -- round-trip airfares as low as $200 -- was right. Bookings are heating up, say European vacation providers. Now the question is: Are cheap trans-Atlantic tickets available into spring and summer? Yes and no. Airlines "have been trying to instill travel fever with low April airfares," says Tom Parsons of Bestfares .com. "But when you call and want to travel in May or June, it's usually a different story. Every airline and its brother are trying to survive." In April, it's possible to jet to Europe and back for under $400. But Parsons is seeing $942 July airfares to Rome from Dallas; $880, L.A.-Frankfurt. Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
Still, some carriers, including Continental (a $548 June Houston-Amsterdam round trip was on its Web site Thursday), already have extended sales into summer. This weekend, Icelandair has a "Summer Smackdown" on its site -- round trips from $499 plus tax. Parsons' own site just got the OK to sell summer seats to 30 European vacation cities starting at less than $400, plus tax. Airlines cut trans-Atlantic offerings by 20% after Sept. 11 and now slowly are reinstating flights. Many are watching May and June reservations to see "if they can hold the line on airfares or have to have sales to encourage demand," says Neil Martin, spokesman for the European Travel Commission. While U.S. travel to Europe was off an estimated 14% in February from 2001 levels, overseas vacations are rebounding. "We have seen our bookings start to come back, particularly in economy cabin," says Wendy Buck, a Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman. In mid-February, "the bookings started. They're now at our 2000 levels, even above," says Joyce Fredo of In the English Manner, which rents out London apartments. Still, the number of U.S. visitors isn't expected to return to pre-Sept. 11 levels this year and may fall short of the 12 million welcomed in 2001. Travelers' behavior also is changing. Once, the European vacation was planned months in advance. Now, "they want to go in two to three weeks. It's wait and see" how the world situation is, Fredo theorizes. "The trick this season is to be patient," Parsons says. As we get closer (to summer) and airlines have inventory, they'll dump seats." Airline Web sites bear watching, since e-sales offering considerable savings are popping up with regularity. Meanwhile, the European Travel Commission is launching an "Oh-So-Affordable-in-'02" ad campaign. It aims "to get people to visiteurope.com, where we'll list deals," Martin says. "We're emphasizing the affordability of the European vacation thanks to the strong dollar and great deals on packages." Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
Packages and tours are worth investigating. Virgin Atlantic has an April London air-hotel combo starting at $599 for six nights. The gotoday.com travel site and others list summer packages for less than $1,000 per person. There is pent-up demand for a European vacation, says Rick Steves, who has "sold more seats for 2002 than we did all last year" on his 250 Rick Steves' Europe tours. Barring unexpected developments, he says, "Europe is going to have a strong year. It's a great time to be there, from a budget point of view.".... Compare prices on tickets for a European vacation here /cheap airfares home |