Under the summer sun that bakes much of the nation these days, new voices are being heard. They speak Japanese and German and Arabic.
The foreign tourist, a species once limited to corporate tycoons and wandering rock stars, is abroad in the land. Direct flights from Tokyo to San Francisco are booked solid for the next three weeks, and the number of Japanese visitors to Las Vegas now runs to about 5,000 a month. In New York City, arriving Europeans want to see Times Square and Harlem and then fly south to Disney World. All this activity represents not just world prosperity but also the swooning collapse of the once almighty dollar, which has sunk 7% against the yen and 10.5% against the Swiss franc since July. Against gold, which is being feverishly traded in major markets, the dollar has slumped about 12% in the same period. The result has been to make the U.S. a bargain hunter's paradise for even middle-class foreigners. More than 20 million foreign tourists are expected to visit the U.S. this year, up at least 8% from last year.
Danish Banker Thorkild Kristiansen and his wife Jette were amazed to find that food and gasoline cost half as much in the U.S. as back home. "If the dollar continues at its current level," says Kristiansen, "we'll be back next year. Only this time we'll bring our two children."
Overseas visitors are shrewd shoppers. Manhattan's Windows on the World restaurant reports that they gobble up oysters and clams (as part of a $19.50 prix fixe dinner), which are much more expensive in Europe. Says Nick Lapole, director of public relations for Mamma Leone's restaurant in Manhattan: "The French and Italian tourists we are getting eat and drink rather lavishly and don't care what it costs." Because of all the dollars in their pockets, they are also losing their reputation for being stingy tippers. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires and cheaper souvenirs are being snapped up by tourists at Tiffany on Fifth Avenue. In Chicago's Water Tower Place, tourists buy music boxes made in their own countries because they are cheaper here.
It is better to visit America, some foreigners say, than to live here. Electrical Engineer Makoto Takayasu, 35, expected to go back to Japan with some savings after working on a research grant at Purdue University. But the decline of the dollar has just about wiped out what he set aside. "My wife is encouraging me to spend every dollar we have before we return to Japan," he laments. "She's not far from right. The dollar is not worth anything any more."