The euro has fallen 20 percent against the dollar in less than two months, but Europeans shouldn’t worry that they won’t be able to afford a trip to New York now.
According to Bjorn Hanson, a professor of hospitality at New York University’s Tisch Center. Airfare is purchased in a tourist’s native currency, he points out, so it’s exempt from currency fluctuations. Accommodations, the other major expense for tourists, might appear vulnerable. But the city’s hotels have proven adept at balancing currency fluctuations by discounting room rates, a technique that allows the hospitality sector to “turn demand off and on through pricing,” he says.
“Hotel rates are about 30% lower than they were in 2007 at many major hotels,” Hanson explains.
And there are plenty of cheap activities here, like New York walking tours.