NEW YORK, June 13 (UPI) -- Anti-American sentiment abroad has little effect on the usual warm welcome for U.S. tourists, a new survey shows.
That's the word from members of the USA Today Vacationers Panel who have crossed the Atlantic in the past two months. American visitors are being greeted with open arms, they say.
Travelers do report seeing anti-war banners and obscenity-laced graffiti denouncing President Bush, but only two panelists said they experienced overt anti-American sentiment because of disagreement with the Iraq war and U.S. policy.
"France was our biggest concern, but we worried for nothing," says Susan Whittaker of Indianapolis, who went on a cruise in April that called at Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese ports.
"The French citizens could not have been nicer," she said.
U.S. travel to Europe from January through April was down an estimated 5.3 percent from the year before. France was especially hard hit with the number of Americans visiting France plunging 26 percent.
