International visitors are booking Cape Cod homes for the summer. This four-bedroom home in Yarmouth, which features multiple decks, rents for $3,500 to $5,000 a week.

Cape Cod’s vacation rental market may be getting a boost from Europe and other foreign lands.

The sluggish economy is putting pressure on the Cape’s tourism industry, but vacation rental agents say they’re seeing a jump in interest from international visitors who are drawn by the weak dollar.

Agents said they’ve booked summer properties to vacationers from France, England, Canada, Norway and Austria.

“We did have some international business before, but it has picked up dramatically,” said Bett McCarthy, regional vice president of Kinlin Grover GMAC, which handles about 1,700 seasonal rentals.

McCarthy estimated that business from overseas guests has doubled. Vacationers from the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Egypt already have reserved properties through Kinlin Grover.

The interest from overseas guests comes as Cape Cod brokers have seen their rental business suffer in recent years.

The Cape’s rental market has struggled for the last three years, according to Martin Traywick, who has owned and operated Craigville Realty Co. in West Hyannisport for the past 36 years.

“It’s because of the pervasive gloom in this country about the economy and about our general circumstances,” said Traywick.

Last year, the rental division of Traywick’s company generated about $150,000 less for property owners than the company did three years earlier. The rental business was 10 percent off from 2004, which Traywick described as the last great year for vacation rentals.

“While it was slow in 2005 and 2006, in the end we came out about the same. We just had to work harder. In 2005 and 2006, we did about 96 percent or 98 percent of the business we did in 2004. But it was easy in 2004,” he said. “Everybody was making tons of money in 2004. We were still optimistic [American troops] weren’t going to be in the Middle East for 100 years.”

Traywick is spending an additional $5,000 on advertising, particularly to increase his company’s presence on key Web sites.

“I’m convinced that [advertising on the Internet] makes a difference. It’s a big part of the business now,” he said.

Traywick, whose company handles about 150 seasonal rentals in Hyannisport and Craigville Beach, estimated that 40 percent to 45 percent of them already are booked.

McCarthy noted that the rental business tapered off in recent years because repeat vacationers spurred by low interest rates purchased Cape properties instead of renting them.

Now, as the housing market has softened, more properties are being snapped up by foreigners who are taking advantage of the strong currency values against the U.S. dollar. Interest in purchasing properties is spilling into seasonal rentals as well, according to McCarthy.

‘Booking Rapidly’

Kinlin Grover has started reaching out to foreigners by advertising in international publications. The firm is spending 5 percent to 10 percent more on advertising, explained McCarthy.

In December, Kinlin Grover began advertising in International Homes, a publication that is in the first- and business-class sections of major airlines like British Airways and American Airlines. Kinlin Grover also has bought ads that will be appearing this spring in Unique Homes, a publication available in 80 countries.

McCarthy said while the ads, which include the company Web site, promote for-sale properties they may have helped the rental side of the business as well. Just about half of the properties that Kinlin Grover rents – with weekly rates of $1,000 up to $10,000 – are fully booked, said McCarthy.

Linda Collins, owner of the At The Cape Properties in Orleans, said her company has booked to renters from France and the Netherlands.

“We’re getting a lot [of bookings] from other countries because of the dollar,” said Collins.

Lynette Helms, chief executive officer of Falmouth-based Real Estate Assoc., said her company has enjoyed a “marked increase” in business from foreigners.

“I’m sure it’s the dollar. My husband and I usually go to Europe at least once a year and we’re not going so that says something,” she noted.

Helms, whose company rents about 275 properties on the upper Cape, said the “nicer” properties with desirable amenities like air conditioning are 75 percent booked. “The nice properties are booking, and booking rapidly,” she said.

Despite the slumping economy, some hotels and Realtors are reporting that their advance bookings are significantly higher than last year, according to Wendy Northcross, chief executive officer of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

“There’s a lot of head-scratching going on,” she said.

Northcross said one reason for the increase could be the state’s international marketing efforts through its Office of Travel and Tourism.

The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce has participated in three sales trips with the tourism office to the United Kingdom, Japan and Italy to promote the state. And the chamber also has launched two redesigned Web sites to attract tourists from all over.