天价英国游让英国本地游客望而却步

　　Britain is crammed with overpriced restaurants, plagued byexpensive hotels and let down by overrated tourist attractions,according to the latest edition of the Lonely Planet Guide。

　　In a warts and all review of the country as a holiday destinationthe well-known travel bible concludes it "has had its day" especiallyfor cash-strapped natives。

　　"If you're on a tight budget, there's no getting away from it --Britain ain't cheap," said lead author David Else who dispatchedcontributors to every corner of the land in search of good deals, butfound few。

　　While some places are deemed to be "fantastic" finds and thecountry was still "one of the most fascinating places in the world toexplore" many destinations simply didn't cut it。

　　"Public transport, admission fees, restaurants and hotel rooms alltend to be expensive compared with their equivalents in many otherEuropean countries," Else said。

　　"Unfortunately at a time when everyone is in desperate need of agreat value summer getaway some of Britain's tourism industry justdoesn't deliver," he added。

　　The picture was particularly bleak for Britons hoping to forget thegovernment's austerity-driven budget cuts, underlying inflationarypressures and a battered pound。

　　The guide says some good value deals can be found if families dotheir homework, but many may, in the end, regret opting for a"staycation." London was singled as being particularly over-priced whenit came to dining out。

　　"You're often better spending five pounds on a top-notch curry inBirmingham (central England) or a homemade steak-and-ale pie in acountry pub in Devon (southwest England) than forking out 30 pounds in arestaurant for a 'modern European' concoction that tastes like it camefrom a can."

　　Overseas visitors, however, are undoubtedly the winners, flockingto the island in the last couple of years to take advantage of the weakpound。

　　Must-sees included Canterbury in the southeast which "tops thecharts" when it comes to English cathedral cities, the city of Cambridgewhose leafy green meadows "give it a far more tranquil appeal" than itsrival Oxford, Glasgow a "byword for chic" and London with "endlessreserves of cool"。

　　Less flattering reviews were saved for the county of Surrey, closeto London, "made up of uninspiring towns and dull, sprawling suburbs,"while the city of Cardiff in Wales was slated as "a prodigious boozingtown."

　　根据《孤独星球指南》的最新版本，英国到处是高价饭馆和昂贵的酒店，英国旅游景点的价值也被高估了。

　　这一著名的旅游圣经在列出了英国度假胜地的种种缺点后，得出结论说，对于囊中羞涩的本国游客而言，英国作为旅游地的“辉煌时代已经结束了”。

　　《孤独星球指南》主要作者戴维?埃尔斯说：“如果你手头紧的话，就会吃不消——英国可不便宜。”埃尔斯将撰稿人派到英国各地寻找划算的买卖，但是没多少发现。

　　尽管某些地区被视为“绝妙”的好去处，英国也依然是“世界上最引人入胜的地方之一”，但是许多旅游目的地确实不理想。

　　埃尔斯说：“公共交通费、入场费、饭馆花费、酒店入住费用比欧洲许多其他国家都贵。”

　　他还说：“在这个时候，大家都很需要超值的夏日度假地，不幸的是，英国的一些旅游业做不到这一点。”

　　对于那些希望借度假把政府的预算削减政策抛到脑后的英国人来说，这一前景显得特别凄凉。英国的紧缩政策是为了节制消费，以应对通胀压力和英镑贬值。

　　《孤独星球指南》说，如果英国人下一些功夫，还是可以找到一些超值的旅游消费地，但是很多人最后可能会为自己选择在国内度假而感到懊悔。伦敦还被选为超昂贵的外出就餐地。

　　“通常，你花5英镑在伯明翰(英国中部)吃一流的咖喱菜，或在德文郡(英国西南部)的乡村酒馆吃自制的牛排啤酒馅饼都好过在伦敦饭店里花30英镑吃所谓的‘现代欧洲’大餐，那味道和罐头食品差不多。”

　　不过，海外游客无疑是赢家，过去几年许多外国游客都趁英镑贬值来到英国岛度假。

　　英国的必游之地包括东南部的坎特伯雷，它是英国拥有大教堂的城市中排行居首的旅游地，还有剑桥市，那里的茵茵绿草地使其拥有比竞争对手牛津市“宁静得多的气息和魅力”。不可错过的还有“时髦雅致的代表”格拉斯哥和“源源不绝的凉气储备地”伦敦。

　　伦敦附近的萨里郡没获得什么好评，“到处是没有生气的城镇和单调、杂乱的郊区”，而威尔士的加地夫则被批为“超级酒鬼城市”。