Year: 1874

PREPARATIONS FOR THE ANNUAL EUROPEAN


TOUR.


THE PLEASURE SEEKERS REDUCED IN NUMBERs-A


FALLING OFF OF FIFTY PER CENT FROM LAST


YEAR ANTICIPATED-ACCoMMoDA OF THE


STEAMSHIPS INCREASED AND RATES REDUCED


WHAT THE PRINCIPAL LINES ANTICIPATE AND


PREPARE FOR.


For several weeks the steamship companies nave
been busily engaged in perfecting their ai'"e
ments for the accommodation OF taVelers 10 HuioP1
The history OF the European exodus Oh eaol Su.0,oN
ing season is in many respects the same. Inc lat'ei
days of April are devoted to the formation OF exten-
Eye arrangements for the coming pleasure trip ana
10 securing steamship passages &c. BY the FIRST
Of Nav outward bound steamships carrying large
numbers of passengers; by the middle of May the
great tide of European travel has fairly set IN ana
by the middle of juno first of July, II
has reached its hight. Then follow few
weeks of comparative quiet until the carry
part Of August when the ebb tide begins and the ln-
ward bound steamships only are crowded with pas
sengers An unusual combination of circumstances
will conspire this year TO detain Americans on ths
side the ocean The number of tourists Is expected
to fall at least SO and possibly 90 per cent snort OF
that of n year ago. Indeed, some who are well
yersed in the signs of the times see indications OF
falling off in European travel even greater than %





doubt that the panic of September last is the prime
cause of this remarkable depression. The class of
Americans who crowd their years recreation into
few weeks of sightseeing in July and August are
the very ones to whom the panic of last Fall
proved most disastrous. The calamity when
il brought can in few cases be over
come in so short period as half year.
and economy in business management and IN house
hold expenses cannot be followed by the inevitable


l.
extravagance OF q tour of the Continent. Hundreds
Of families who returned from Summer holiday
six months ago. fully determined TO repeat their
ocean VOYAGE with the return of the Summer season,
have long since relinqushed all hope of vacation
abroad and hundreds of others who had looked for
ward to the coming Summer, in anticipation Of an
introduction 10 the Old World, are now obliged to
defer the execution of their project for at least
twelyemOuth. The panic of September has been
followed by a general depression in business.
This depression is not confined to America alone,
but the steamship companies state that 1t is
also felt throughout Europe. The consequent
decline in trade between the two countries
will keep multitudes of business men on both
sldce at home. Heretofore, hundreds of
Americans have sailed for Liverpool in June and
July in anticipation of the opening of the Fall trade
The staguation in business circles everywhere can
not fail to have a marked effect upon this class of
business men. Thus the effects of the panic will he
seriously felt by both pleasure seekers and men of
business.


Another cause which will materially reduce the
throng Of foreign tourists the present is the
absence OF any special attraction in Europe like the
Vienna Exposition, during the coming months. The
German steamship lines are expecting to reap some
benefit from the International Agricultural EXhib-
ton to be held at Bremen from June l3 to June 2l
At the same time Europeans are advancing their
prices with each succeeding year A tour of the
Continent in 1874 will be far more expensive than
the same tour would have been few years ago.


Still another cause which will affect the ocean
travel of the coming Summer will be found in the
fearful record of ocean disasters during the last six
months. 1t is well known to the owners of steam
ship lines that a single steamship horror like that of
the Vile du Havre is not quickly forgotten. and
that the terror it inspires viii manifest itself for
months among ocean ra4eers. The agent of the
French line said to a reporter of TIE TRIBUNE on
the morning when the tidings of the Europc's loss
reached this city: 1--WE were just recovering from
the effects Of the Vile du IIavTe disaster. Our pas
sengers were coming back 10 u.s. and confidence in
the line was we'll nigh restored The loss of our
steamer last November however was not felt by
our line alone. 1t had also reduced the number of
ocean travellers by the other lines, such disasters
always will" At no time since ocean steamship
travel begun, have the perls of the been brought
so forciby to sight during the past six months.
The English companies profess to expect no loss of
travel on account of the recent disasters. Al
acknowledge that the other causes above mentioned
will seriously affect their travel this season.