Ask, and Frommer still has the answers
— -- More than 50 years after he first published Europe on $5 a Day, Arthur Frommer is still dispensing practical advice to travelers. The travel icon, who turns 80 in July, has just written Ask Arthur Frommer & Travel Better, Cheaper, Smarter (Wiley Publishing, $19.99), in stores this week. USA TODAY's Jayne Clark caught up with him in Washington, D.C.
Q:You call this possibly the most important — and certainly the most ambitious — book you've ever written. How so?
A: It was an attempt to set forth everything I know about travel, along with a snapshot of everything that's new this year.
Q: But can guidebooks — even encyclopedic ones — keep up with the Internet?
A: This is such a turbulent time, you have to expect that things are going to change and things changed radically after I wrote the book. Oil prices plummeted and the dollar strengthened. I warn that prices could change by 5% to 10% of what's in the book.
Q: You find some aspects of travel websites disappointing. What don't you like?
A: The whole emphasis on user-generated content is foolish. I was the first person to use it with the "readers' selections" in Europe on $5 A Day, in which I printed verbatim letters from readers. I was so proud of it. I even said they were better than mine because I was going to 40 or 50 hotels and a reader would remember one place that stands out. Then we realized it was being massively manipulated. Hotel (operators) were getting friends to send in recommendations. About 25 years ago we dropped it.
Q: So you think those sort of shenanigans are happening on Trip Advisor and other popular user-generated travel sites?
A: I've heard of hotels generating massive entries. It's impossible to guard against it. And that goes to the heart of the matter. Plus, there's sponsored content on some sites and it's hard to know if someone paid for the content. And then there are sites that aren't user-generated but look like they are.
Q: But shouldn't Joe from Sheboygan's opinion about the No Tell Motel, or whatever, count?
A: I regard a travel journalist who writes the book and goes back every year a better judgment to rely on than that of an amateur. Plus, you have a professional who is trying to give you an entire picture of the hotel. Trip Advisor (contributors) tend to fixate on little features and not the overall picture.
Q: What's your opinion of social networking websites — Facebook, Twitter and the like — as they relate to travel?
A: I sternly resist them. I think it's sort of absurd. They're a waste of the time for a lot of people who should be reading.
Q: You do blog, however.
A: Most of my blog is service-oriented. The whole purpose is to tell people how they can travel.
Q: You've said you're troubled by some travel trends. What are some of the more annoying ones?
A: I am horrified by the transformation of the cruise ship to an amusement park. They're so full of recreational devices — boxing rings and wave machines — they may as well stay in port. It's an ongoing battle to direct people to destinations where they expand their horizons, where they get exposed to different viewpoints — or just observe them.
Q: I guess that's getting tougher as so many places look more and more alike.
A: That's the problem with commercial tourism. At 2 p.m. in the Dominican Republic all-inclusive (resort) there are merengue lessons in the ballroom, except it's taught by an American. And this is (guests') only interaction with Dominican culture.
Q: You're speaking tonight at Georgetown University. What's the topic?
A: Summer travel opportunities for college students. Ironically enough, just when the nation is in a terrible economic fix, the conditions for travel are better than they have been in years. Airfares are at a historic low. Tour operators are dropping prices. And for the time being at least, the dollar is strong.