On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 15:54:49 GMT, C Kingsbury wrote:

who has less money? European consumers or the European airlines?

Consumers in general. I don't think the disparity is enormous and in any
case there's no question that a European with a decent job can enjoy a very
nice quality of life.

ok

Also, assuming that an American family and European
one would both budget say $2000 for a vacation, the European family will
likely be trying to spread it across a longer trip.

probably, yes.

In the US the typical
vacation trip is a week, occasionally ten days, once in a while two weeks.

same here.

And that's pretty much it for the year.

maybe, depending on budget and houshold income, there is an additional week
for holidays. For example 10 days to 2 weeks in summer and an additional
week in winter. Or maybe a longer weekend, filled with a holiday and an
additional day off.

When I worked for Bertelsmann my
German comrades would typically take three or four weeks off in the summer,
and two or three in the winter.

this would then be not paid in full. about 4 to 5 weeks is typical. and as
you said: they take some weeks off, but this does not mean that they
drive/fly away.

Likewise when I was in Thailand a few years
back, most of the Europeans I ran into were there for at least a month.

most likely very many retired people. My last holiday was in 2002 - but
this is a different story.

So
you guys need to stretch your money a little further even if salaries were
identical, which they are not.

they aren't, for sure. but you need the plus for paying for your own
insurance etc.; and here we typically only need one job, whereas in the US
many have to work 2 or 3 jobs (which is _VERY_ unusual for Europe).

tickets from Europe to the US east cost (both ways) sell for about EUR
500.00 - and with the fall of the exchange rate it is now about 40%
cheaper
to spend holidays in the US than it was in 2002. So be friendly to those
French .. they (and others) have the money to spend in the US-tourism
industry.

So long as they tip 15% in bars and restaraunts they will be quite welcome.

ah well, as always it comes down to money :-)
hm, you have to bring them to the US in the first place. Politics is doing
its best to keep tourists away. Many tourists only seek "sun, beach, other
culture, other people" and not the USA or any other specific country. So
they can virtually go anyplace else (Cuba, the Dominican Republic or many
countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea [Egypt, Turkey, Greece, ...] are
very popular).

-cwk.

#m
--
The policy of the American government is to leave its citizens free,
neither restraining them nor aiding them in their pursuits.
Thomas Jefferson