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Arthur Frommer discovered Europe for middle-class America

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Arthur Frommer discovered Europe for middle-class America

Arthur Frommer, the pioneering travel guidebook writer who revolutionized budget travel with his book “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day,” died at the age of 95 from complications of pneumonia. His death was confirmed by his stepdaughter, Tracie Holder, and announced by his daughter, Pauline Frommer.

Frommer’s death was reported by CNN, CBS, ABC News, The Independent, FOX, The Guardian and The New York Daily News, among numerous other media outlets.

Frommer’s philosophy was simple yet revolutionary: stay in budget accommodations, use public transportation, and dine where the locals eat, emphasizing authentic cultural experiences over luxury. He challenged the idea that Europe cannot be enjoyed safely and on a budget. “The entire travel industry told you that the only way to get to Europe was first class, that this was a war-torn continent coming out of World War II, that it literally wasn’t safe to stay anywhere other than first class. class hotels,” he said, countering fears of post-war Europe with accessible and detailed itineraries.

His book convinced many middle-class Americans that the art, architecture and cuisine of London, Paris and Rome were not just for aristocrats. The Frommer’s brand expanded to include approximately 350 titles, adding to a global travel empire that includes online content, newsletters, podcasts and a radio show. Despite shifts in the travel industry, his message remained relevant. “Traveling is the best learning activity,” he said. “You have to travel in a state of humility and ask more questions than make points.”

Frommer was passionate about making travel accessible to everyday people, not just the wealthy. “We were pioneers in suggesting that travel wasn’t just for the rich,” he once said. “He deeply believed that travel could be an enlightening activity that did not require a large budget,” says his daughter Pauline Frommer. “My father opened the world to so many people.”

Born Arthur Bernard Frommer on July 17, 1929, in Lynchburg, Virginia, to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe – his father from Poland and his mother from Austria – Frommer grew up during the Great Depression in Jefferson City, Missouri. He recalled that some of his classmates could not afford shoes, and going to a restaurant with his family was considered a rare treat. The family eventually moved to New York when he was a teenager, a transition that did not make him happy.

Frommer graduated from New York University in 1950 and received a law degree from Yale University in 1953, where he edited the law journal and graduated with honors. He was drafted after graduating from Yale Law School and, because of his language skills, served in U.S. Army Intelligence in Germany; he spoke French and Russian, languages ​​he learned from his parents.

While stationed in Europe in the 1950s, Frommer began writing about travel, laying the foundation for his later work. When he noticed that most other soldiers didn’t think they could afford to leave the base, he came up with the idea for a travel guide for soldiers who wanted to see other European countries. Whenever he had a weekend leave or a ‘bridge’ (a long weekend), he would hop on a train to Paris or hitch a ride on an air force flight to England.

In 1955, Frommer self-published The GI’s Guide to Traveling in Europe, which featured bargains for soldiers and became the prototype for every English-language series of travel guides that followed. The copies, priced at 50 cents each, were distributed by the military newspaper Stars & Stripes. The book quickly sold out and Frommer received a telegram from Europe saying, “The book was sold out, can I arrange a reprint?”

After returning to New York to practice law at the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Frommer spent his month’s vacation from the law firm in 1956 traveling in Europe to research a civilian version of his guide . He personally visited every hotel and restaurant mentioned in his book, getting up at four in the morning and running up and down the streets to find good, cheap hotels and restaurants. The resulting book, ‘Europe on 5 Dollars a Day’, was self-published in 1957 and became so popular that the first 5,000 copies sold out virtually overnight. This marked the start of his groundbreaking career and changed the world of tourism forever.

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Even after selling the rights to his company, Frommer remained an outspoken figure in the travel industry. He did not hesitate to criticize companies he believed were harming customers. He denounced mega cruise ships, arguing that they were inauthentic, and was an outspoken critic of travel industry practices that he saw as harmful to travelers.

In 2013, at the age of 84, Frommer bought back the rights to his travel guides after decades of serving as a consultant to various owners, including Google, which owned the trademark for less than a year before selling it to him for an undisclosed price. . He and Pauline relaunched the print series with dozens of new travel guide titles under a new company name, FrommerMedia, which is still active today. “I never dreamed at my age that I would work so hard,” he told the Associated Press at the time.

Frommer remained opinionated until the end of his career, speaking out on his blog and radio show. He coined the phrase “Trump Slump” in a widely quoted column predicting a slump in tourism to the US after Donald Trump was elected president.

Arthur Frommer is survived by his daughter Pauline Frommer, his wife Roberta Brodfeld, two granddaughters and his stepdaughters Tracie and Jill Holder, who continued to work in the family business. “It is an honor for me to continue his work of sharing the world with you, which I am proud to do with his team of extraordinary and dedicated travel journalists around the world. We will all miss him dearly,” said Pauline .

Arthur Frommer’s legacy lives on in the countless travelers he inspired to explore the world on a budget. His travel guides, which have sold more than 75 million copies worldwide, have reshaped the modern travel landscape and made the world more accessible to people from all walks of life. “Travel has taught me that, despite all the exotic differences in dress and language, political and religious beliefs, all the inhabitants of the world are essentially the same,” he wrote. “We all have the same impulses and concerns, we all long for the same goals.”

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq



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