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The British tourists aren't coming

We're seeing fewer tourists from the U.K. Blame fuel surcharges or even politics.

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published July 28, 2007

Fewer British visitors are taking vacations in the United States, a trend that's hurting Pinellas County tourist businesses.

The declines are fairly small but surprising with the British pound worth about $2, an exchange rate that makes the United States a bargain for U.K. visitors.

"British tourists turn their back on America," screamed a headline in the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph last Saturday, with a photo of Mickey Mouse in an Uncle Sam costume at Walt Disney World.

Visits by Britons to North America fell from 5.1-million in 2000 to 4.5-million in the 12 months ending in May, a decline of nearly 12 percent. The number dropped 1 percent from the most recent 12 months from the year-earlier period. The vast majority of North America trips are to the United States.

Pinellas County saw bigger declines: 3.8 percent for the year ending in May and 4 percent for the first five months of 2007.

"You should have been inundated with people" from the U.K. with the favorable exchange rate, said Colin Brodie, director of the London office for Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing agency. Early signs point to a 3 or 4 percent increase in British visitors to Florida this year, he says.

Hotels and other tourist businesses prize Britons and Europeans, who stay longer and spend more than Americans. But they're fighting attitudes and economics.

Brodie says the biggest obstacle is fuel surcharges that airlines add to trans-Atlantic fares, as much as $800 for a family of five. British newspapers run stories of travelers complaining of harassment by U.S. Customs agents and long processing delays.

Don't rule out political fallout from Europeans opposed to war in Iraq, says Robert Czyszczon, owner of the Plaza Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach.

Europeans typically fill 15 to 20 percent of the hotel's 39 units from September through early November when domestic travel drops off. "We're not getting the phone calls we did in recent years," he says.

Pinellas County's tourism agency increased advertising in Orlando and launched ads in the Tampa Bay area to offset declines in European visitors.

European business "is slow, but it won't be a complete bust," said D.T. Minich, executive director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified July 27, 2007, 22:50:14]