Articles

Arthur Frommer

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The New York Times Recommends a Honeymoon Hotel Without Once Mentioning It Charges $1,600 a Night Per Room

The travel sections of several leading American newspapers seem to engage in an alternating pattern of reality/non-reality. For months on end, they devote their pages to…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

We Can All Aid the Suffering People of Greece by Including a Trip There On Our Next European Vacation

Whatever is the eventual, long-term outcome of the long dispute between the nation of Greece and the European bankers who hold its debt, one thing is clear:  the Greek people are in…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Time Has Come to Consider Re-Regulation of the Airline Industry

In a modern democracy, "regulation" is no longer a dirty word. Unregulated medications can hurt or kill you, unregulated monopolists can destroy competition, and unregulated…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Recent Events in Egypt and Turkey Have Created Two Totally Different Conditions for Visiting These Countries

The safety of international travel is a continuing concern, and some travelers are avid readers of the vacation warnings from our State Department and the foreign offices…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Attacks on Airbnb Have Now Gone Well Beyond Decent Bounds, Spreading Exaggerations About Airbnb's Alleged Creation of a Housing Shortage

It's open season on Airbnb.com.  Scarcely a week goes by that you do not read attacks in the travel press claiming that the popular apartment-sharing service is causing…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

To Me, the Harry Potter Exhibits at Universal Studios in Orlando are a Massive Disappointment, a Serving of Boredom Concocted by Show Business Executives Whose Only Talent is Building Roller Coasters

It comes as no surprise that Orlando, Florida, is currently visited by more tourists than New York City--62 million in 2014 as opposed to 56 million at the Big Apple.  But…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Failure of Congress to Properly Fund Amtrak Was the Clear Cause of Last Month's Derailment, and Condemns Our Rail System to Second-Class Status

Countless articles have discussed the recent tragic derailment of an Amtrak train outside of Philadelphia, and the consequent deaths of eight passengers and severe…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Two Travel Destinations—Egypt and Myanmar—To Which I Will Not Be Going in the Weeks Ahead

To boycott a travel destination for political reasons is always a difficult decision to make, with arguments that can cited both pro and con.  But to boycott a country…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Latest Travel News about Smartwatches, Hotel Apps, Airfares to Asia and Cuba, Low-Priced European River Cruises, and Healthy Vacations. Whew!

One of CroisiEurope's recently refurbished vessels in Lyon, FranceIn the vast outpouring of comment about Apple's new Apple Watch (a computer in the size and form of a…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Wholly Unexpected Outbreak of Violence in a Famous Resort City Has Reawakened Fears of Vacationing in Mexico

The city is Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. The incident is a now-subdued battle between various drug gangs and the local police force, in an area of that city far…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

At Last: A Big and Well-Financed New Airline is About to Charge Budget-Level Prices for Round-Trip Flights Across the Atlantic

A major recent development has been the decision by the low-cost trans-Atlantic airline called Norwegian to greatly increase the number of flights it offers from both New York City…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Views Expressed in a Recent Gathering of the Editors-in-Chief of Our Nation's Travel Magazines, Are a Reason for Dismay

It is a long-established practice for the leading publication in the travel industry, Travel Weekly, to conduct an annual symposium of the Editors-in-Chief of America's major travel…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Lessening of Competition Among Our Newly Giant Airlines, and the Resulting Increase in Airfares, is a Troubling Situation That Might Require Legislative Action

Over the past twenty years, as one U.S. airline merged with another, reducing the number of major carriers to exactly four (United, American, Delta, and Southwest), we were…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Whole Host of Travel Disclosures, Events, or New Travel Services Can Have an Impact on Your Own Next Vacation

In a recent announcement, the U.S. State Department has found a slight improvement--a very slight improvement--in safety conditions for American tourists going to Mexico. Twenty of…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Though Round-Trip, Transatlantic Airfares to Europe this Summer are Almost Always Priced in Excess of a Thousand Dollars, A Few Means Exist for Cutting that Cost

A massive number of Americans are planning to cross the Atlantic in the next several months, to take advantage of a stronger U.S. dollar (and weaker Euro). But while…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

We’re Proud Spain’s "Autonomous Region" of Catalonia has Chosen a Frommer Guidebook—Barcelona Day by Day—To Be a Contest Prize in Celebration of One of its National Holidays

St. George’s Day—he’s the guy who vanquished that dragon—is celebrated in various ways all over Europe, but in a very special fashion in Spain’s region of Catalonia.  Instead of…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Are the Attractions of Costa Rica No More Desirable than Those in Other Central or South American Countries? Ecuador Says Yes

Is tourism to Costa Rica based on a hoax?  Is Costa Rica's leading touristic position among other nearby countries simply a product of public relations?  In an elaborate…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Reason Why Guidebooks to Some Countries or Cities Sell Better Than Guidebooks to Others, Is An Enduring Mystery of Travel

As a co-publisher of travel guidebooks, I have to participate in choosing, each year, the destinations--the countries, the cities--about  which we will be researching and…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

On the Eve of What Will Undoubtedly be a Record-Breaking Summer Travel Season, Here Are Some Europe-Related Observations

We are on the brink of the summer travel season, best known as the Summer of the Strong Dollar.  For the first time in many years, American vacationers are enjoying an…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Recent "Symbolic" Vote by the U.S. Senate, Selling Off Our Public Lands to Private Interests, Should Raise the Ire of Every American

If you are a normal, sensitive individual in love with your country's natural wonders and determined to preserve them for generations to come, then you will be…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Recent "Symbolic" Vote in the U.S. Senate, Transferring Our Public Lands to States (And Thus Eventually to Private Interests), Should Raise the Ire of Every Citizen

To be handed over to private business: America's National Forests (credit: Kaibab National Forest)If you are a normal, sensitive American in love with your country's…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

How Exactly Do You Make a Trip to Cuba? Here's An Attempt to Explain a Several-Step Process

The recent loosening of restrictions on the right to travel to Cuba has permitted almost any American to go there.  You no longer have to apply to the Treasury…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Now That the Cost of Travel Within Europe Has Been Lowered Through the Decline In the Value of the Euro, Why Not Consider a Longer Trip There?

The sharp, recent decline in the value of the European currency, the Euro, has convinced a large number of Americans that they can now consider not simply a short,…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

A Modest Proposal: Why Not Simply Dock Those Giant New Cruise Ships to a Fixed Position in Their Port City, Never to Go to Sea?

The publicity machine of Royal Caribbean Cruises is currently churning out all sorts of exciting press releases about their brand-new, 5,500-passenger, mega-ship called…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Recent Wholesale Cancellation of Flights to Coastal U.S. Cities Has Caused a Great Many Would-Be Vacationers to Lose the Cost of Their Cruise

It happened all over America.  People who had booked a cruise went to the airport, only to learn that their flight to the embarkation city had been cancelled--and no…