The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-22
TOURISTS ABROAD.
Worcester Has Contributed
a Fair Share This
Season.

Worcester has contributed its share
to the general run of American tourists
abroad though an exact statement of
numbers during the season just closed
would be hard to make. Local agencies
have probably sold more foreign tickets
this year than ever before. The reason
given by some of them for this condi-
ton Of affairs is two fold; first the
growing desire for foreign travel; sec
ond, the general increase in the bust
ness prosperity of the city and com
munity.
One of these agents told a Spy man
recently that his agency sold on an
average during the past season from
six to eight tickets weekly. This is
equally true of the other agencies in the
city, and combined with the agencies
in the larger county towns, it can
readily be seen that this county has
sent many tourists abroad this season.
1t is stated locally that the greater
majority of the tourists are persons Of
means, we'll to do, and with ample time
to take in the beauties Of the old world.
The next in line are domestics, who by
frugality covering a period Of many
months have saved q pretty compe-
tence and are taking long anticipated
trip to their native heath.
1t is a noticeable fact that the ma
jority of the tourists purchase tickets
for Liverpool and Queenstown, denoting
that the novelty of a sail across the
Atlantic and a brief tour of the British
isles are the height of their ambition.
Frequently, however, tickets are pur-
chased for points on the continent, and
it is a fact not generally known that
some extremely remote points are Wis
tied by Worcester tourists whose
names never get into the newspapers
and whose returns are not heralded by
extensive newspaper interviews.
What the comparative cost is to Wor-
cester tourists is, Of course, unknown
to the LEGAL agents. 1t is reasonable to
Worcester county residents contSfbute
several thousand dollars to foreign cot
| fers in the course of a season, and il the
| trend OF sentiment of tourists continues
in the same direction as this season.
| the number of local tourists to foreign
| ports will at least double.
An exchange has this to say about the
| influx of Americans to Europe
| An occasional failure of the narvests
in Great Britain, France and SWlzer-
| land, is now made good by the ap-
pearance of a new harvest, which is
as steady as the traditional ice croI
and granite crop in Maine, and which
differs from them only in it's steady
| growth.
This is the crop of American tourists
which this year has again broken the
| record. The leading London tourist
agency estimates the European cror
this year at not less than 10000 Ameri-
cans, who have yielded an average re-
turn of e300, or $500, per tourist ~ the
| European harvesters. In round mum
| bers we may call the total 500, 000 600
| or a little bit more than the value OF
| Nebraska's 00O0O.O 900 bushel corn croI
at 30 cents a bushel.
In other words, this country ccntri-
| butes to Europe every year-and Chiefly
| to Great Britain-nearly enough to pay
the charges on the British national debt
or the cost of the British army, without
any apparent diminution of our pros
perity. What is even more remarkable
| is that exposure to European influences
| does not seem to exercise any detri-
mental effect on the American tourist
| who generally returns home as loyal as
when he went.
Worcester contributes it's share to
| numbers above quoted, and it's citizens
contribute generously to the fund which
swells the Golfers of English and con-
| tinental railways, hotels and other
things which go to make up a summer
| tour abroad.