When Europe Becomes a Realm of Convenience : Unification: As nations reshape themselves into a single economy, travelers will face fewer hassles, but may find a bit of the Continental mystique missing. Here is a look at the factors transforming European travel.

Vast economic and political changes are reshaping the map of Europe, and already they are making a big impact on the nature of travel to the Continent. For the most part, Americans will find it is becoming easier to travel in Europe, although some of the romance of the journey may disappear.

As headlines announce, Western Europe is moving inevitably toward greater economic unity; Germany now is undivided; Eastern Europe is struggling to reap the benefits of its new-found political freedom; Yugoslavia is enmeshed in a civil war, and who knows what ultimately will emerge from the stunning breakup of the Soviet Union. Even the Chunnel, the rail tunnel beneath the English Channel that will link England and France in 1993, is altering the way we look at Europe. And, not to be forgotten, the big new Euro Disney Resort just outside Paris is scheduled to open April 12.

How does all of this affect transatlantic travelers?

In the face of these big developments, a single event helps illustrate just how dramatic the changes will be--at least from a traveler’s point of view. It is the new agreement reached last month by the unity-minded nations of the European Community to create a common currency by 1999. In a few years, the unimaginable will be realized. We are going to be able to tour much of the Continent, it seems, without having ever again to fumble over a multitude of confusing currencies.

As the 12 nations of the European Community approach their economic goals, other major travel hassles are expected to fade away: Most border checks (except an initial one) will be eliminated; airline competition will increase, bringing about cheaper intra-Europe fares; high-speed rail lines already are under construction, aimed at substantially cutting travel time between Europe’s major cities; some taxes affecting travelers may drop (and others increase); air traffic control delays should diminish; and many procedures--perhaps even the official classification of hotels--will be standardized.

Meanwhile, the new political freedom achieved by Eastern Europe in the past two years already has made travel to this part of the Continent much easier, and other changes for the better are in the works. With a few exceptions, visas for Americans are no longer required, eliminating a sometimes tedious application process. Competition for the U.S. dollar reportedly is improving service in restaurants. And the region’s hotel industry is seeing improvement on several levels: New hotels are going up to meet the new tourist demand; hotels are increasingly being linked by computer to the rest of Europe and North America, enabling travelers to book rooms in advance almost instantaneously; and bed-and-breakfast lodgings have made an appearance.

Even the traumatic consolidation within the U.S. airline industry is changing travel patterns to Europe. In the wake of Pan Am’s demise, U.S. and foreign airlines are scrambling to capture the potentially lucrative transatlantic market.

As regards the move toward a united Western Europe, “Everything is progressing,” says Michel Bouquier, president of the European Travel Commission, a tourism-promotion organization that represents 24 nations, including the 12 members of the European Community.

In Bouquier’s eyes, 1992 will be “the most exciting year in the history of European tourism”--both because of what appears to be the inevitability of a economically united Europe on Jan. 1, 1993, and because the Continent is playing host this year to three major events: the Winter Olympics in France, the Summer Olympics in Barcelona in northern Spain and a world’s fair, Expo ‘92, in Seville in southern Spain.

The 12 members of the European Community are Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Greece, Spain and Portugal. Soon after Jan. 1, 1993, additional nations, including Austria and Sweden, are expected to join. Meanwhile, some non-members, again Austria and Sweden among them, have begun to adopt economic policies closely paralleling those of the European Community--in effect, implementing standardization of certain aspects of trade and travel throughout Western Europe. And several Eastern European nations reportedly are eager to become members.

Ah, but won’t we lose some of the romance of travel when and if European-wide economic unity is a fact? There is a niggling doubt, a reminder really, that coping with some travel hassles--including multiple currencies--has always been a part of the mystique of a Continental tour. There are those travelers who willingly accept border checks if only to have their passport stamped as a souvenir. Among developments in European travel to watch for in the months and years ahead:

Border Crossings

After the first of next year, border posts between member nations of the European Community are to disappear. Theoretically at least, you should not need to show a passport to travel from one member nation to another--whether by road, rail, sea or air--although a passport remains the best means of identification. Immigration and customs checks will remain in effect for travelers arriving from a non-member nation--a flight from the United States, for example--and here a passport will continue to be required.

Value Added Tax

Throughout Europe, the value added tax is a form of sales tax on practically all goods and services. Right now, the amount of the tax varies widely by country. In Germany, it is 14%; in Portugal, 16% and in France, 23%. By agreement, the European Community has set the minimum tax at 15%, which it is hoped will become effective beginning next Jan. 1. Those with higher taxes will be under pressure to drop them. The result is both good and bad for travelers, depending on the country being visited. Since the tax usually applies to hotel rooms, restaurant meals and car rentals, those countries in which the tax is to be increased will be a bit more expensive; those in which the tax will drop will be a little cheaper. In years past, France imposed a value added tax as high as 33% on car rentals. Travelers who are not citizens of the EC will still be able to obtain a refund of the tax on items they purchase to take out of the EC.

Cheaper Air Fares

At present, European airlines are not expected to be deregulated as they were in the United States. But some rules have been liberalized and more are expected to be loosened to allow greater competition among airlines within the EC. The result should be cheaper air fares. Some discounted fares already are available.

Currently, only a nation’s airlines can carry passengers between two cities within the nation where it is headquartered. For example, a traveler can take Air France between Paris and Nice but not Lufthansa, the German airline. Within the EC, however, such restrictions will disappear, according to Bouquier of the European Travel Commission.

As he explains it, Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways and any other airline of a member nation will be able to compete on routes throughout the community, even between two cities of one country. Quality of service and good pricing will be two prime competitive factors luring passengers from one airline to another.

Faster Trains

The possibility of an airline price war in Europe has spurred the Continent’s national railways to action, says Dag Scher, a spokesman for Rail Europe. His organization is a sales representative for the French, Swiss and several other European railroads in the United States.

At the moment, rail travel in Europe is substantially cheaper than flying, but an air fare war could eliminate this advantage, says Scher. As a result, the railroads are scurrying to upgrade their service and to construct high-speed lines between important commercial cities. France and Germany are at the forefront of rail improvements in the European Community and Spain is opening its first high-speed line between Madrid and Seville in time for the world’s fair in April.

Like the airlines, national railroads eventually will be allowed to operate within the borders of other member nations, says Scher. Currently, a train proceeding from one country to another customarily changes crew and engine, or a through car is transferred from one national rail line to another. In the future, a German train may travel intact from Frankfurt through France to Madrid and back again; and the same is true for a French or Spanish train.

Meanwhile, transatlantic rail reservations are becoming easier to make. By March, Rail Europe, which is based in White Plains, N.Y., expects to be operating a computer reservation system linking all of Europe’s railroads--just as the world’s airlines already are. Rail Europe’s new reservation line is (800) 438-7245.

Air Traffic Control

A major goal of the EC is to improve the coordination of air traffic control over Europe as a way of reducing flight delays. And new rules are expected to be established allowing for the allocation of departure slots at congested airports. The results should be seen by the mid-’90s, says Bouquier.

If You Are Bumped

The European Community recently has adopted standardized rules, now in effect, covering compensation to airline passengers who are involuntarily bumped as a result of overbooking from a flight for which they have reservations. There are varying price levels for awards, depending on the length of the flight and how soon the airline can get passengers to their destination on an alternate, according to Lucille M. Hoshabjian, spokeswoman for Lufthansa Airlines.

A passenger bumped from a flight of up to 2,300 miles (3,500 kilometers) is entitled to the equivalent of 150 European Currency Units (about $195); for longer flights, the compensation is 300 ECUs (about $390). The amount is halved if the airline gets passengers to their destination within two hours for shorter flights and four hours for longer flights. Compensation is paid in the currency of the country where passengers were bumped.

A Single Currency

At a historic meeting last month in Maastricht in the Netherlands, the EC reached agreement on a treaty to allow some of its members to establish a single currency by January 1999. Nations that choose not to adopt the European currency can decline. Great Britain is one nation that is hesitating. At least seven countries must agree, says Krucoff, but she considers this “inevitable.”

Duty-Free Shopping

Initially, the EC planned to eliminate duty-free shops for travelers going from one member nation to another, but they have been spared until July 1, 1999, says Krucoff. Duty-free shops for travelers departing a member country for a non-member country will continue to operate into the foreseeable future as they have in the past.

Uniform Standards

Much is being done to bring weights, measurements and other trade and travel standards into uniformity within the EC and prospective members. As affects travelers, there is some doubt, however, whether uniform highway speed limits will ever be achieved. And the same is true for electrical currents and plugs. But Bouquier believes standardization of government hotel ratings is a good possibility.

Transatlantic Flights

Pan Am, once a leader in the number of passengers carried transatlantic, is now gone, and other carriers have surged to the forefront. American and Delta, moving in a big way into the European market, operated the most flights last month from the United States to Europe, according to a study published in Travel Weekly. American scheduled 188 weekly departures and Delta 182.

However, British Airways, operating 138 weekly departures, had slightly more seats available than either of the two U.S. carriers because it flies larger planes. British Airways offered 41,926 seats weekly, Delta 40,841 and American 39,643, the study found. Other major transatlantic carriers are TWA, 97 weekly departures in December; Lufthansa, 97; United Airlines, 81; Air France, 55; KLM (Netherlands), 47; Northwest, 42; and Alitalia, 30.

This ranking should remain fairly constant throughout the winter, according to Sam Fuchs of SH&E; of Waltham, Mass., a consulting firm that conducted the study.

Channel Tunnel

The new 31-mile tunnel beneath the English Channel is expected to be opened “toward the end of 1993,” according to Patricia B. Titley, director of marketing for BritRail. When it does, the land-sea journey between London and Paris will be cut from 6 1/2 hours to 3. And the travel time between London and Brussels will be reduced from 5 1/2 hours to 3 1/4 hours. High-speed trains will pass through the tunnel in 21 minutes.

Ticket prices have not been set yet, but they are expected to be very competitive with the airlines. From city center to city center, a trip by air also takes about three hours when travel time to and from the airport is included, according to statistics cited by BritRail. The train journey presumably will not be affected by bad weather, which sometimes delays air and cross-channel ferry traffic.

New high-speed rail lines are being built in France and Belgium to link their capitals with the tunnel. The lines will have a top speed of 186 m.p.h. BritRail also is investing $1.1 billion to upgrade rails and signaling equipment and complete a new international rail terminal in London. A new fleet of 30 trains, each capable of carrying more than 700 passengers, is being built.

The new rail service may tempt U.S. travelers to London to take a quick day trip to France, perhaps to visit Europe’s new Disney park, says Bouquier, who also heads the French Government Tourist Office in New York.

Eastern Europe

A lot of what has happened in Europe seemed unimaginable not much more than two years ago. The Berlin Wall crumbled, and East and West Germany became one again. The rest of the Eastern Bloc--Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania--also threw off its Soviet yoke, and even xenophobic little Albania has decided to rejoin the family of nations.

As a result, most of the once-intimidating border procedures have been swept away. Only Romania, Albania and the various states of what was once the Soviet Union still require visas, according to Randy Gunawan, general manager of World Visa & Document Services of Washington. And in most of the region, the obligatory exchange of dollars has been eliminated.

New hotels are going up in the region, airlines are increasing their service, airports are being renovated and the private sector is opening new restaurants, where good service is a goal, according to Betty Vaughn, spokeswoman for the Eastern Europe Travel Board. Increasingly, the lodging industry is being linked by international computer networks for immediate booking confirmation.

Russia and Beyond

The new Commonwealth of Independent States remains a question mark. As of last week, the Russian Embassy in Washington was issuing visas for U.S. travelers for the independent states that form the new Commonwealth of Independent States, according to Gunawan. The exceptions are the three Baltic states--Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania--which did not join the commonwealth and issue their own visas. One disconcerting possibility is that each of the commonwealth states may require separate visas, as a source of revenue.

In the past, the Soviet Union’s Communist leaders kept much of the country off limits to foreign visitors. But most of the restrictions have been dropped, says Vaughn. Alaska Airlines has just announced it will resume its thrice-weekly flights from Anchorage to the Russian Far East on June 7. One destination is Magadan, a city of 150,000 on the Sea of Okhotsk, which was closed for decades.

Although getting into Russia and its commonwealth associates is much easier than in the past, getting around may prove more difficult, at least for a while. Airplane fuel shortages reportedly affected some Aeroflot flights in more remote parts of the former Soviet Union. Meanwhile, travel agents continue to offer tours to such major destinations as Moscow and St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad).