Europe Ho!

Europe, Ho! Touring Europe in the summer will be back in fashion next year. So American Express president Ralph T. Reed hopefully predicted last week as he landed in Manhattan after a two-month European tour. Because of the food shortage England still frowns on tourists but most of the Continent had the welcome mat out. Last week the U.S. Army was even considering letting tourists into Bavaria to help the Germans get some dollar credits. Next year there will be a good bit of transportation available on planes (an estimated 100,000 seats) and ships (200,000). The big catch was to get the U.S. Department of State to lift the ban on tourists. But American Express was so hopeful that this would be done by summer that it announced two typical, all-expense tours, set tentative prices: ¶ A 25-day tour of Europe with passage on the liner America, six days in England (unless England is still pinched), three days in Scotland, three in Holland, one in Brussels, three in Paris, two in Normandy (to see the landing beaches), and five days in Switzerland. Cost: $1,000 to $1,500. ¶ A 14-to-21 day tour, depending on whether the tourist goes by plane or boat, to London, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, with one and a half days for detours. Costs: $650 to $1,130 by ship, $785 to $985 by plane. But warned Reed: “Anyone who goes just for fun will be sorely disappointed.” Transportation in Europe is slow and crowded, hotels below prewar standards. Food is scarce and monotonous almost everywhere. Only in Switzerland, hardly touched by the war, is touring up to prewar. In general, hotel rates are up, but comparable to those in the U.S. Typical rates: $5 a day double at London’s medium-priced Cumberland, $14 a day double at Paris’ famed George V. Actually, the cost of-traveling—and tours—depends on what happens to foreign currencies. Both the French franc and the Italian lira are skidding. If the pegged price is not changed to match the fall in real value (France refused to do so during the war), tourists will find their U.S. dollars bringing less and less unless they patronize the black market. Reason: prices will go up to counteract the fall in value of local currency. Only in Switzerland will the tourist escape that danger. But there he may have to face another which will have the same effect. There was gossip that Switzerland would revalue its franc, raising it from 23.40 U.S. cents to 30 cents. This would automatically boost prices to tourists nearly 30%.