Is Europe Cooling Down for Americans?

Since 2003, Europe has been HOT. Take a look at the number of cruise ships in Europe vs the number in the Caribbean over the summer--- Celebrity has none in the Caribbean, Holland American has none in the Caribbean, Princess has 1 in the Caribbean. These cruise lines have gambled on the fact that in the past few years, Americans have been flocking to Europe in record numbers and have put their ships in Europe and Alaska in the summer months.

Europe has been a top destination for most travel professionals in the past couple of years. Who wouldn't want to go to Italy, Greece, France or cruise the Mediterranean or vast rivers in Europe? Europe is great for culture, romance, history, and just about everything!

I have just had 2 sets of clients come back from Europe this week and both said something interesting. The first was a small group of women traveling for the 2nd time on a Globus escorted tour in Europe. Last year, they went to Switzerland and this year to Eastern Europe where many of the countries are still not on the Euro. Out of 42 passengers on the tour bus, their group of 8 and one other couple were American. All others were Canadian and Australian. Last year, their bus was comprised of Americans from all over the US. My next set of clients was a family of 4 from New York. They were on the Celebrity Century going from Amsterdam to Northern Europe, including St Petersburg. Out of a ship of 2000 passengers, only 900 were American. Their young adult children expected to meet many other American peers on the ship and that was not the case.

In both cases, my clients had a geat time but both found it interesting how non-American their travelling companions were.

So my question to the travel suppliers, are you going to keep pushing Europe as much for 2009 and 2010 or are you going to add more cruises and tours closer to home that more Americans will be able to afford? Time will tell- the 2009 itineraries are already out and booking up. Let's see what happens for 2010. It will be interesting.