Tourists

By the time Eunice and Kevin Goossens learned about the Philadelphia city workers' strike, their home in Florida was hundreds of miles behind them. Ahead of them, in Philadelphia, cantaloupes were already fermenting inside hot Hefty Bags and trash barrels were overflowing onto city streets. But their Philadelphia vacation was drawing closer by the minute, and they had gone too far to turn back. "We heard about it on the car radio coming up here," said Eunice Goossens, as she and her family strolled up Benjamin Franklin Parkway yesterday morning.

What better way for transit workers to flex their muscle during a strike than to smudge the city's image on a big tourist weekend? With more than 800,000 visitors expected for the National Rifle Association Convention, a major professional bike race and a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses, this weekend appears to be a good opportunity for strikers to wreak havoc in the city. There's one problem with that plan, though: Event planners say the strike won't have any effect. "The majority of our members drive in or fly in," said a spokeswoman for the NRA, which expects 40,000 people at its annual meeting and trade show this weekend.

LAS VEGAS - Bullets were flying from a black Range Rover at a gray Maserati as the vehicles raced toward a red light on the Las Vegas Strip. Beneath the neon lights, police say, the Maserati ran a red light at one of the Strip's busiest intersections and smashed into a taxi that exploded into flames early Thursday, killing the two people inside. Three more cars and a utility truck collided at the crossroads home to Bellagio, Caesars Palace, and Bally's, leaving at least six more people injured as the Range Rover sped off in the predawn darkness.

Maybe it's Kevin Bacon touting Philadelphia's nightlife. Maybe it's designer Nicole Miller extolling the boutiques and restaurants. Or maybe it's just a solid booking of big conventions. Whatever it is, Center City hotels and city tourist attractions are doing well this summer. The question is how much is attributable to the $2 million advertising program aimed at attracting nearby tourists to the "Place that loves you back. " Launched amid much fanfare in April by the new Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing group, the campaign included TV ads that ran from April through June in the New York metro area and central Pennsylvania.

Europe and England, those enclaves of culture and Old World charm, lost one of their big summer traditions this year: the American tourist. But now the comeback is on. And for Americans currently heading to those time-honored vacation destinations, there is other good news. They're discovering that in many ways, their timing could not be better. Absent the usual summer invasion of Americans, the streets, restaurants and hotels are not nearly as crowded. London and Paris dining spots that last year would have required reservations a month or more in advance now need only a few days' notice, or none at all. Tickets for popular performances are not so difficult to come by. And in some quarters there are discounts, contests and package deals to tantalize tourists.

GETTYSBURG - Tourists trickle through the Gettysburg Train Station's burgundy door, some to escape the heat, others to pick up battlefield maps. Only a few come to trace Lincoln's path through here to deliver the two-minute speech that defined the Civil War and began to reunify a nation. When Walter Powell walks through, his eyes don't register the racks of picked-over tourism brochures or the weary travelers resting achy feet on 150-year-old benches. Rather, he sees what the station could be: a bustling railroad museum that gives visitors a fuller picture of the Civil War and draws tourists to downtown businesses.

The U.S. share of tourists from around the world has dropped 23.5 percent since 1995, the Travel Industry Association of America reports, and to fight that trend the trade group is launching a big ad campaign this month directing potential international visitors to a new Web site, www.seeamerica.org The TIA said the site was developed in response to the lack of a national tourist office where international visitors could get information about the United States. "We are the only developed nation in the world that doesn't fund a national tourism office, a national travel Web site, or international marketing campaigns," said TIA chief William S. Norman in a release.

Eight-year-old Matt packed his own guidebook for the trip to Florida, along with his Gameboy, cassette player, deck of cards and - reluctantly - his homework. En route, while I prayed for sun and entertained the baby, Matt and his 6- year-old sister Reggie would get their introduction to the Sunshine State from their book - complete with funny cartoon drawings, a travel diary, tips for native dishes, whimsical word and picture games related to tourist sites, quizzes and offbeat, little-known facts designed to appeal to children.

It may well turn into a strange irony of the summer movie season that one of the slickest pieces of escapist entertainment should be set in a prison. The alleged object in Michael Bay's turbocharged thriller The Rock is to break into, rather than out of, Alcatraz. But the real aim is to make a film that's faster than a blink. Bay, who directed last year's Bad Boys, has a background in MTV videos, and it shows in The Rock's frenetic pace, which speeds the movie past a crazy premise and gaping plotholes.

NEW YORK - New York officials proudly tout the Big Apple as the safest big city in America. But blasts of gunfire in front of crowds near some of the city's best-known destinations this month painted a picture at odds with its tame, tourist-friendly image. Police confronted a knife-wielding man in Times Square and then shot him to death a few blocks away Aug. 11 as onlookers followed along and snapped photos. And on Friday, a gunman with a workplace grudge shot a former co-worker dead outside the Empire State Building - and then was killed himself by police in a burst of bullets that left at least nine bystanders wounded, some apparently by police rounds.