Travel: Wish you were here

Last week, the U.S. travel industry held its International Pow Wow trade show in Orlando, Fla., during which overseas travel operators sized up tour possibilities in the United States.

In the tri-state region, tourist officials are still assessing the one-two punch of a collapsing euro and an erupting volcano. They are buoyed regionally by the musk of New York City, which alone attracted 45.5 million visitors last year, up from 36.2 million a decade ago.

Between last November and mid-May, the euro had dropped more than 16 percent against the dollar, worrying tri-state area tourist venues and agencies of an ebb in European visitors this summer.

For the time being, it appears the Iceland volcano has had a greater impact on tourism than the euro, in part because many European travelers booked vacations stateside before the full extent of the devaluation became apparent.

“We really haven”™t seen a significant impact in overall booking trends tied to the economic concerns that ”¦ have come to the forefront,” said Jeff Boyd, CEO of Norwalk-based Priceline.com Inc., in a conference call this month with investment analysts. “To date, we have not noticed an impact on demand tied to these concerns, but the weakening of the euro creates a headwind for the coming quarters and any destabilizing of the common currency or the broader European economies would clearly create challenges.”

Only in March, President Obama signed the Travel Promotion Act, billed as the first-ever national travel promotion program to attract more international travelers to the U.S. Lawmakers had pushed for the measure after noting that the U.S. drew 2.4 million fewer visitors in 2009 than in 2000. According to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, inbound visitor spending was down 15 percent in 2009 to $21 billion; by comparison, the 2001 terrorist attacks and subsequent recession resulted in a 13 percent decline.

“It”™s about time that the United States got serious about revitalizing and growing this essential industry,” said Tom Donahoe, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a keynote address at the International Pow Wow. “America cannot afford another ”˜lost decade”™ in travel and tourism.”

If America has been a poor draw, don”™t blame the Statue of Liberty ”“ New York City became the top tourist center nationwide in 2009 with 45.5 million visitors last year, down from 47 million visitors the year before but well above the 36.2 million people that passed through turnstiles in 2000.

In the first quarter, visitors to major attractions in Connecticut were 18 percent lower than a year previous when economic panic still abounded, according to data published by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. Tourist information center visits were down nearly as much, though those numbers were likely impacted by reduced operating hours as the state tightened spending during the recession.

Still, despite the euro”™s woes, global air travel was up more than 10 percent in March, according to the International Air Travel Association (IATA cautioned to expect an April dip to the impact of the Iceland volcano), and tourism activity continued to strengthen in New York City in the early weeks of spring, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The question becomes the degree to which Connecticut might enjoy any spillover effect, whether in Fairfield County which serves as the gateway to New England, or in the casinos in eastern Connecticut that are among the top tourist attractions in the nation. Tourist officials in Connecticut and New York alike have bemoaned cuts in tourism promotion budgets, which they see as a short-term budget item at the expense of the long-term health of the travel industry.