Cash advance nassau

Travel-hungry Americans are booking rooms and mapping out routes for what is shaping up as the biggest summer-vacation splurge in years.

Not since 1976 have tourist shown such willingness to shell out so much cash--whether their destination is the campground down the road or a luxury hotel in a faraway country.

The U.S. Travel Data Center, a private tourism group, predicts that a surging economy will result in a banner year for resorts, hotels, airlines and amusement parks--not to mention almost certain overcrowind at favorite locations.

It's a big year for overseas travel, too. American Express says its advance bookings fo foreign trips are up fully 61 percent over last year. At the same time, the number of passports issued to Americans this year is expected to increase 15 percent to 4.7 million, says the State Department.

Here are some of the trips people are talking about--

Off-Season Bargains For Warm at Heart

Budget-minded travelers are finding summer the best time to obtain reduced-rate accommodations in warm-weather locales.

A seven-night stay at Sam Lord's Castle, a pirate's hideaway resort in Barbados, is reduced from $1,050 per couple in winter to $564 in summer.

From Miami, Carnival Cruise Lines offers three-night cruises to Nassau and Freeport at prices ranging from $310 to $595. Club Med provides free air fare from New York or Miami to its village in Haiti for $600 for seven nights.

Even more popular this summer is Mexico, where the strong dollar is all powerful, according to Aram Verabian, president of All America Tours of Beverly Hills, Calif. Seven nights in Cancun, including hotel, meals and a tour, costs from $139 to $349 per person, plus air fare. A seven-night stay in Mazatlan can run as low as $379 from May 1 to August 24, including hotel, and air fare from Chicago. Another big seller: A week in Acapulco for $89.

Finally, a seven-day plane-hotel package from Denver to Waikiki is available for $587.

Up North: Icebergs And Anniversaries

Vacationers trying to escape the summer heat will have two excuses to travel to cooler climates this year--Alaska's silver anniversary and Quebec's 450th birthday.

Towns and villages throughout the biggest stale will be giving a 25th-anniversary twist to their annual festivities, says the Alaska Department of Tourism.

Holland America Westours will operate seven-day cruises to Alaska from Vancouver this summer for $1,195. Sitmar offers 14-day cruises from San Francisco for $2,395, including air fare from 120 cities.

Quebec City will celebrate the 450th anniversary of the founding of New France June 23 with a gathering of the world's tall ships. From Atlanta, seven-night packages to Quebec start at $778, including air fare. In the West, a seven-day bus tour from Calgary through the Canadian Rockies costs $960.

Still not cool enough? Then how about an 11-day tour around Greenland on the 19-cabin M.V. Nordbrise for $2,990. Sights include fiords, mountains, icebergs, glaciers and historic towns.

For Those Who Like The Exotic ...

Well-traveled adventurers with money to spend have a wide choice of exotic trips. Among them--

Balloon adventure. A seven-day vacation includes lodging at the Snowmass Club near Aspen, Colo., early-morning hot-air-balloon flights, followed by gourmet picnics and horseback riding, fishing, gliding, or rafting expeditions. Price is $2,675.

Skiing on August. Trips to the Argentine Andes for $1,375 include air fare from Houston, lift tickets, seven nights' lodging and two meals and daily.

Ethiopian river trip. Thousands of hippos, crocodiles, antelopes and birds can be seen along the Omo River. A 19-day raft tour costs $1,490, including lodging, meals and travel from Addis Ababa. Rafters should be in top physical shape.

Great trains and hotesl for Europe. The 18-day tour of West Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and Monte Carlo includes stays in elegant old-fashioned hotels such as the Excelsior in Florence and travel on such trains as Italy's "Vesuvio" and France's "Ligure." The $3,787 price includes most meals, but not air fare. Or there's the Paris-to-Vienna Orient Express, a recreation of the historic train to Istanbul, for $2,390 for a five-day round trip.

Europe: Better Make Plans Soon

Nowhere is this season's travel boom more evident than in Europe, where 5 million American visitors will descend in 1984. "Anyone who intends to go to Europe had better have booked it by now--or withing the next few weeks," comments Roger Ballou, senior vice president of American Express.

Both the strong dollar and low air fares are a big draw--though prices are starting to climb. Air France offers a charter flight from New York to Paris three days a week at $400 round trip from May 26 to June 16, when the price goes up to $530.

Some travel agents recommend Spain and Portugal this year. "You can get air and lodging for around $600 for a week," says John Werner of Foremost Travel && Tours in Chicago. One two-week package to these countries runds for $398 to $469 without air fare. It includes visits to the Prado in Madrid, the Mosque of the Caliphs in Cordoba and Portugal's Our Lady of Fatima shrine.

Another popular European vacation includes round-trip air fare from Denver to London on June 22, seven nights of accommodations at any of 500 British guest houses, plus a compact rental car, for $810 per person.

A nine-day escorted tour of France's Loire Valley and its chateaus and vineyards is $420 to $480, not counting air fare.

"We find more and more interest in educational tours," says Susan Garza of Clear Lake Travel in suburban Houston. One 15-day, $1,860 trip from Houston includes air fare and takes in such literary locales as London, York, Stratford, Windsor, Bath, Edinburgh and the Alice in Wonderland country of Wales. Also from Houston for $1,722 is an art tour to museums in Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels and elsewhere. University professors explain fine points on both trips, and college credit is offered.

Los Angeles travel agents recommend a London theater week, ranging from $249 to $419, including lodging, a sightseeing tour and tickets to two shows. Air fare is extra.

China's Doors Open Wide for Travel

It is no longer takes the constitution of a frontier scout to visit China. All it takes is money.

Rooms at the spacious Great Wall Hotel near Peking begin at $90 a night, and cocktails in the bar cost $6 or more. Business lunch at elegant Maxim's comes to $30.

China has come a long way toward making foreigners comfortable at top-notch hotels, but even the Chinese admit the less expensive loding places have a long way to go. "Service quality and attitudes do tend to be uneven," acknowledges Shen Shoujun of China's National Tourism Administration.

Only a handful of hotels in China even accept direct reservations, and these tend to fill up quickly. Americans without a place to stay often call the U.S. Embassy, to no avail.

Tourists may prefer to book package deals in advance. A Houston travel company provides air fare to China, meals, lodging, and a two-week tour with a professor of Chinese history and a bilingual guide for $2,595. Another two-week tour from Minneapolis--St. Paul will take travelers down the Yangtze River. The cost: $3,500.

All of these trips are part of surge in travel that began when the Chinese stretched out their arms to foreign visitors in the late 1970s. The 9.5 million visitors last year--168,300 from the U.S.--represented nearly a fourfold increase in five years' time. China sees the 930 million dollars in hard currency brought in by foreign tourists in 1983 as fuel for its ambitious modernization plans.

To entice more visitors, the government is training hundreds of people in the finer points of dealing with foreign tourists, to overcome an image of surly room clerks, bell captains, waiters, and tour guides. The Institute of Tourism, 50 miles from Shanghai, turns out 400 graduates each year in subjects ranging from nutrition to tourist psychology.

In its training program, the Great Wall Hotel has one unalterable rule: No employe who has worked in Chinese hotels previously. Explains General Manager Peter Sun: "They had too many bad habits.

What to See In the Lower 48

From Maine to California, travelers will take to the highways, rails and air routes for trips postponed during the long recession. Two big attractions likely to draw people out of their homes this summer will be the Olympic Games in Los Angeles and the New Orleans World's Fair.