I put the real tourism dip around 10%

Apparently, it's not easy going for tourist trap hacks and luxury travel businesses in Italy lately. Blaming the global economic downturn--and suddenly tighter-wadded American tourists--this New York Times article helps a few of the least practical exemplars of travel-related business bemoan the state of their finances.

Whether you're a pointless tourist trap (a cheesy gladiator by the Colosseum no one wants to pay to pose beside, a glum horse-drawn-carriage driver with no passengers) or a pointlessly overpriced hotel or restaurant (the Exelsior bar in the Westin Hotel on Rome's Via Veneto--which went out of fashion 40 years ago--or the lovely but ridiculously priced Hotel Danieli in Venice, which has had to "slash" its prices to a mere $335 a night), no tourist seems to want to crack open his or her wallet and pay for your services.

To which I say: Good for the tourists. The only reason most people assume they can't afford a trip to Italy--which, even in this economic climate, they can--is that msot newspapers and magazines make it sound as if you _need_ to spend $20 for a martini, $150 for dinner, and $650 for a double room.

That's not only wrong, it's elitist and it's ridiculous.

Patronize mom-and-pop hotels and B&Bs and you'll never pay more than $200 for a room (and often well less than $100), eat at family-run trattorie and you can dine like a king on unforgettable Italian home-cooking for $20 to $30. What's more, those prices are even better now than they were just a few months ago, as the Euro has slipped against the dollar from the dizzying highs of $1.60 = €1 during this past summer to around $1.30 = €1. That's like a 30¢ discount on every dollar you spend, relatively speaking. That's money you can take the the bank...and spend in Italy.