Arthur Frommer, a US writer attributed to revolutionising not only the travel guide industry, but also the way Americans see travel, has died at the age of 95.
“Throughout his remarkable life, Arthur Frommer democratised travel, showing average Americans how anyone can afford to travel widely and better understand the world”, his daughter, Pauline Frommer wrote in a statement.
Being posted in Germany during the Korean War, Frommer took any leave or pass he had to travel around the Europe. From these short 2-3-day adventures, he wrote his first travel guide – “The GI’s Guide to Travelling in Europe”, which was distributed by the Army newspaper for just 50 cents. The first 5,000 copies quickly sold out and Frommer was asked if he planned on reissuing the guide.
Seeing the success of his first book, back in the United States to practice law, Frommer spent his one-month holiday returning to Europe, doing research for another guide, this time for civilians, that was to become the driver of his fame. “In 30 days I went to 15 different cities, getting up at 4 am, running up and down the streets, trying to find good cheap hotels and restaurants”, he later recalled.
The result was “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day”, a travel guide published in 1957 aimed to show Americans, who at that time believed that travelling to Europe was only for the wealthy, that they can discover the world without spending a fortune.
My father opened up the world to so many people. He believed deeply that travel could be an enlightening activity and one that did not require a big budget.
Pauline Frommer
“This is a book for American tourists who a) own no oil wells in Texas, b) are unrelated to the Aga Khan, c) have never struck it rich in Las Vegas and who still want to enjoy a wonderful European vacation”, Frommer wrote in his book.
The book was a pioneer in the world of travel guides, including not just historical facts about landmarks, but also suggestions of affordable hotels, inns and motels, as well as local restaurants and cafes, as opposed to high-end establishments. He was a strong advocate of budget travel “because it leads to a more authentic experience”.
Asked to summarize the impact of his books in a 2017 Associated Press interview, he said that in the 1950s, “most Americans had been taught that foreign travel was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, especially travel to Europe. They were taught that they were going to a war-torn country where it was risky to stay in any hotel other than a five-star hotel. It was risky to go into anything but a top-notch restaurant. … And I knew that all these warnings were a lot of nonsense.”
We were pioneers in also suggesting that a different type of American should travel, that you didn’t have to be well-heeled.
Arthur Frommer
With time and inflation, the tiles of his books changed to “Europe on 5 and 10 Dollars a Day” in the 1960s and “Europe from $95 a Day” at the beginning of the 21st century, until the series was ultimately discontinued in 2007, as hotels, even on a budged, were rarely less than $100 per night.
Although Europe on $5 a day was no longer realising, by this time, he had already created a “Frommer brand” and continued to use his influence on American travellers to promote an authentic way of tourism. “Travel has taught me that despite all the exotic differences in dress and language, of political and religious beliefs, that all the world’s people are essentially alike”, he wrote in an essay. “We all have the same urges and concerns, we all yearn for the same goals.”
As a TV and radio host and through his own blog he advocated against mega-cruise ships and talked against customer reviews on websites, as he believed they are too easily manipulated. He also coined the phrase “Trump Slump” before the President elect’s first term, referring to international tourists’ avoidance of the US due to tougher visa regulations as well as a perceived safety threat from Trump’s regime.
