Whether they call it dinero, Geld or argent, it all means money
They are everywhere, camping in Alaska, stamping to the beat of New Orleans jazz, tramping up Nob Hill, wolfing down lobsters on Nantucket, shooting white water on the Colorado River, besieging Bloomingdale's. Foreign tourists love a bargain as much as anybody else, and thanks to the decline of the dollar, the U.S. rather suddenly has become the world's major travel bargain. In consequence, the nation is finally getting a nice slice of international tourism, which is one of the biggest and fastest growing (up 18% last year, to $60 billion) items of global trade.
Last year 18.6 million tourists from abroad came to the land of Kojak and Huckleberry Finn, and the total is expected to top 20 million in 1978. Though waiters and cab drivers complain that they are not the world's best tippers, the foreign visitors will spend more than ever —nearly $9 billion, or $450 per person. Americans abroad still outspend them by almost $2 billion, but the gap is narrowing rapidly. Most important, foreign tourism is creating jobs in the service industries, which employ many blacks and Hispanic Americans.
The initial beneficiaries are the bigtime airlines, travel agencies, hotel and motel chains and their restaurants. But as the tourists travel within the U.S., they deal more with small businesses and entrepreneurs: Mom and Pop diners, souvenir shops, camping guides, local gas stations. Foreign spending can be a bonanza. Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Hotel, a rococo relic of past prestige, came back from the brink of bankruptcy by becoming a mecca for overseas tourists who still associate it with glamour and bathing beauties. Tony Alonzo, a Cuban refugee who opened a small store in Miami in 1965, has built a million-dollar business by supplying Latin visitors with products that either cost them much more at home or are not available at all because of import restrictions. "Some tourists spend their vacation in my store," he says. "They buy their whole year's needs of brands they know—Arrow shirts, Levi Strauss and Wrangler jeans, Pierre Cardin and Christian Dior." When leaving Miami, Latin American tourists often require a second and sometimes a third cab to tote their goodies to the airport.
Boston's Neptune Lobster shop, located near the moored U.S.S. Constitution, sends a fishmonger to walk alongside the busloads of foreign tourists, displaying a 15-lb. monster lobster. The Germans are by far the most susceptible. Says Dietmar Kruesel, a member of the West German consulate: "A lot of them carry frozen lobsters home in their luggage."
Shopping is a major enticement because of the devalued dollar and the fact that markups, taxes and tariffs are lower in the U.S. than in many other countries. An article in the Paris trend-setting fashion magazine Elle has attracted many French women to Filene's basement, citadel of the frugal New England matron, for frocks that sell for a fraction of the price in Paris boutiques. On Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif, Middle Eastern and Japanese tourists snap up $700 Omega watches, $500 Gucci handbags and $500 Brioni suits. While those prices seem stiff, they are often less than half what they would be in Tehran or Tokyo.