Over 30,000 attendees visited the NY Times Travel Show, the largest consumer travel and trade show in North America. It was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City from January 26-28, 2017 offering 3 days of seminars, cultural stages, expert talks, family pavilions and tastings. Attendees visited 500 exhibitor booths representing 170 countries from around the world to get the insider scoop on the best deals and places to visit.
We caught up with Pauline Frommer, Co-President of Frommer Media and Editorial Director of Frommer Guidebooks, to get her thoughts on the latest news in travel.
Question: Where are the best places to travel in 2017?
Frommer: “This will be the last year to have good northern lights for the next decade because they are based on sun storms. Sun storms throw off particles which hit our atmosphere. That’s what causes the aurora borealis. So anywhere that has northern lights would be good, for example Iceland and Alaska. We’re also suggesting Karasjok, Norway, because it’s right next to the Arctic Circle. There are many places you can see them. You want to see them this year because they won’t be so good in the future.
We’re also recommending Canada. It’s the 150th anniversary of Canada and certain places in Canada will be partying even harder. It’s the 375th anniversary of Montreal which means extraordinary celebrations. Montreal is the home of Cirque du Soleil so you’re going to have 40-foot-tall marionettes parading through the streets and 3-D projections on the river telling the history of Montreal. There is a special app you’ll be able to carry around. When you go into old Montreal, if you have the app, suddenly a sound and light show will happen wherever you are.
We’re also recommending Paris because it’s seen a drop of tourism of 30% since their attacks. So things are cheaper there right now. They’re very happy to see visitors. It’s easy to get into good restaurants, and you can go to the sights and not be in a crowd.”
Question: What are your thoughts on traveling to Cuba?
Frommer: “I hope that Cuba still stays open to tourism. President Trump has said he’s going to shut the door which I’m very worried about. The reason the United States had the embargo was to try and change the government. We did that for 50 years and it never worked. So I think as an American citizen I have the right to travel where I please, and I hope we can continue to travel to Cuba. It’s a fascinating culture there with beautiful beaches. It should be visited.”
Question: How did your family get started with writing travel books?
Frommer: “My father was drafted into the army during the Korean War and very luckily for him he was sent to Europe rather than Korea because he spoke Russian and German. So he started traveling all around Europe. Europe was in rubble. World War II which had just finished. He would come back to the base and most of his fellow GIs hadn’t traveled, and he would tell them all about it. One day, he thought maybe people would like a book about this. So he self-published a little book and it changed his life. It’s been a wonderful family business. We are very blessed.”
