PARIS — A cup of tea can cost a mind-boggling $7, and a family trip to the Louvre, with a few souvenirs to take home, can easily soar past the $100 mark.
For Americans handicapped by a struggling U.S. economy and a dollar reaching record lows against the euro — it closed yesterday just over $1.57 against the European currency — Paris is no longer the cheap, moveable feast of Ernest Hemingway’s days, but a costly treat to be savored in small bites.
“When we planned our trip, the dollar wasn’t as bad as it is now,” said Linda Surma, a tourist from Detroit, as she waited in line to enter Notre Dame Cathedral on a chilly, rainy afternoon.
“Today, we were at a little cafe and it cost me $7 for tea. I thought that was a little ridiculous. What’s a tea bag?” she asked.
Milwaukee resident Joe Schaefer, visiting with his family of four, has been equally stunned by Paris’ prices. But, he said, “We were going to come anyway, no matter the cost. Even if we might not stay as long — and we might just eat cheese sandwiches.”
The slumping currency has prompted other Americans to stay home. The numbers of U.S. tourists — who account for one in every five foreign visitors to the French capital — has plummeted 10 percent over the past three months, according to the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Still, Managing Director Paul Roll is not panicking about the drop in the city’s leading foreign customer.
Despite the sharp rise in the euro last year, U.S. tourism overall rose 1 percent compared with 2006, he noted. Moreover, the recent drop in Americans has been compensated for by an uptick in tourists from Russia, Brazil, China and India.
“We’ve seen over the years that when it gets more expensive to go to Europe, [Americans] downgrade the type of services they buy,” Mr. Roll said.
“Instead of going to a luxury hotel, they’ll go to a four-star hotel. Instead of going to a gastronomical restaurant, they’ll go to something that has fewer stars in the Michelin guide.”
However, he said, Americans will always come to Paris.
France has weathered a declined in U.S. tourism before — notably in 2003, when trans-Atlantic differences over the Iraq war were at a high.
At the time, the national tourist office launched a campaign to woo back the anti-French, Freedom-fries boycott, hiring none other than Woody Allen for a promotional clip titled “Let’s Fall in Love Again.”
For the moment, the Paris tourism office has no plans for another charm offensive, Mr. Roll said, although some Paris hotels are offering fixed euro-to-dollar rates.
Alarm bells are ringing elsewhere in Europe, though.
In Ireland, the Tourism Ministry announced last month that it had earmarked an extra $4.8 million to market its attractions in North America, while the Irish Hotels Federation is promoting a price discount.
Meanwhile in Amsterdam, Dutch currency outlets are reportedly turning away tourists trying to exchange their dollars, fearing to be caught with a loss as the currency continues its breathtaking fall.
In Paris, Americans paid in dollars are also hurting.
“It’s getting so bad, I don’t even look at the exchange rate every day,” said Eleanor Beardsley, Paris correspondent for National Public Radio.
“Every time I look at my bank statement online, it’s just completely depressing. And I don’t see any end in sight.”
The pain isn’t universal, however.
Many American companies in France are multinationals, operating in a number of different currencies, said Oliver Griffith, managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Many also tend to hire European rather than American staffers, who are paid in euros.
“The companies earn in euros, so the exchange rate really doesn’t really matter. So it’s basically a wash for the company,” Mr. Griffith said.
Others are profiting from the slump.
French investment in the U.S. has climbed sharply over the past two years, Mr. Griffith notes, even as American exporters are eyeing new opportunities offered by a cheaper dollar.
For their part, British and other European tourists are flocking to American department stores buoyed by their pumped up purchasing power.
Even when it comes to tourism, Mr. Roll takes the long view.
The current slump in American visitors, he said, “is just part of the cycle.”
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