英國天價遊讓本地驢友望而卻步

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

根據《孤獨星球指南》的最新版本，英國到處是高價飯館和昂貴的酒店，英國旅遊景點的價值也被高估了。

In a warts and allreview of the country as a holiday destination the well-known travel bible concludes it "has had its day" especially for cash-strappednatives.

這一著名的旅遊聖經在列出了英國度假勝地的種種缺點後，得出結論說，對於囊中羞澀的本國遊客而言，英國作爲旅遊地的“輝煌時代已經結束了”。

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

《孤獨星球指南》主要作者戴維 埃爾斯說：“如果你手頭緊的話，就會吃不消——英國可不便宜。”埃爾斯將撰稿人派到英國各地尋找划算的買賣，但是沒多少發現。

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

儘管某些地區被視爲“絕妙”的好去處，英國也依然是“世界上最引人入勝的地方之一”，但是許多旅遊目的地確實不理想。

"Public transport, admission fees, restaurants and hotel rooms all tend to be expensive compared with their equivalents in many other European countries," Else said.

埃爾斯說：“公共交通費、入場費、飯館花費、酒店入住費用比歐洲許多其他國家都貴。”

"Unfortunately at a time when everyone is in desperate need of a great value summer getawaysome of Britain's tourism industry just doesn't deliver," he added.

他還說：“在這個時候，大家都很需要超值的夏日度假地，不幸的是，英國的一些旅遊業做不到這一點。”

The picture was particularly bleak for Britons hoping to forget the government's austerity-driven budget cuts, underlying inflationary pressures and a battered pound.

對於那些希望借度假把政府的預算削減政策拋到腦後的英國人來說，這一前景顯得特別淒涼。英國的緊縮政策是爲了節制消費，以應對通脹壓力和英鎊貶值。

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

《孤獨星球指南》說，如果英國人下一些功夫，還是可以找到一些超值的旅遊消費地，但是很多人最後可能會爲自己選擇在國內度假而感到懊悔。倫敦還被選爲超昂貴的外出就餐地。"You're often better spending five pounds on a top-notchcurry in Birmingham (central England) or a homemade steak-and-ale pie in a country pub in Devon (southwest England) than forking out30 pounds in a restaurant for a 'modern European' concoctionthat tastes like it came from a can."

“通常，你花5英鎊在伯明翰（英國中部）吃一流的咖喱菜，或在德文郡（英國西南部）的鄉村酒館吃自制的牛排啤酒餡餅都好過在倫敦飯店裏花30英鎊吃所謂的‘現代歐洲’大餐，那味道和罐頭食品差不多。”

Overseas visitors, however, are undoubtedly the winners, flocking to the island in the last couple of years to take advantage of the weak pound.

不過，海外遊客無疑是贏家，過去幾年許多外國遊客都趁英鎊貶值來到英國島度假。

Must-sees included Canterbury in the southeast which "tops the charts" when it comes to English cathedral cities, the city of Cambridge whose leafy green meadows "give it a far more tranquil appeal" than its rival Oxford, Glasgow a "bywordfor chic" and London with "endless reserves of cool".

英國的必遊之地包括東南部的坎特伯雷，它是英國擁有大教堂的城市中排行居首的旅遊地，還有劍橋市，那裏的茵茵綠草地使其擁有比競爭對手牛津市“寧靜得多的氣息和魅力”。不可錯過的還有“時髦雅緻的代表”格拉斯哥和“源源不絕的涼氣儲備地”倫敦。

Less flattering reviews were saved for the county of Surrey, close to London, "made up of uninspiring towns and dull, sprawlingsuburbs," while the city of Cardiff in Wales was slatedas "a prodigiousboozing town."

倫敦附近的薩里郡沒獲得什麼好評，“到處是沒有生氣的城鎮和單調、雜亂的郊區”，而威爾士的加地夫則被批爲“超級酒鬼城市”。