IMPACT OF THE WEAK DOLLAR / THE TRAVELERS’ VIEW : Dollar Deserts Tourists : Americans Abroad Feel the Pinch

Saddled with dollars worth less than when they started their trips abroad, American tourists around the globe grumbled and tightened their belts--but also expressed hope that their money would soon recover its lost value.

Some tourists in Europe and Japan said they were giving up fancy meals for McDonald’s, cabs for subways and guided tours for guidebooks. A few were canceling side trips out of the capitals.

The shock was greatest in Japan, where the dollar hit a post-World War II low of 99.5 Japanese yen on Tuesday and recovered only slightly Wednesday. Generally, financial markets worldwide settled down following their tumble earlier in the week.

“It’s dramatically expensive . . . breathtaking,” said Lynmar Brock Jr., 60, a tourist in Tokyo from Newtown Square, Pa.

“Horrendous,” added his wife, Claudie. “For breakfast this morning we spent $30. And that only buys toast and juice.”

Economists had been predicting a strong dollar for this summer, based on expected growth in the U.S. and European economies. The economies indeed grew, but other factors intervened, such as inflation fears in the United States, the U.S. trade conflict with Japan and concern that Germany would halt its slow drop in interest rates. So the dollar fell.

Tourism industry leaders said Wednesday that it was too soon to tell whether the depreciation of the dollar will have a dramatic impact on Americans’ travel. Most long-distance vacations are planned and paid for far in advance, and a spot check of hotels in Paris and Rome showed no trend toward cancellations by Americans. Travel agents in Southern California agreed.

“People haven’t shown any concern about it,” said Nina DeCampos, manager of the Carlson Travel Network office in Woodland Hills. In fact, she said, two couples walked into the office Wednesday afternoon to make final payments on their European vacations.

“I think the client has become accustomed to the dollar not being real strong,” said Ada Brown, who owns Seaside Travel in Long Beach. Economic conditions--not the value of the dollar--play a greater role in consumers’ travel plans, she said.

Prepaid tours and low air fares have also taken some of the sting out of the declining dollar, travel agent Kathy Traynor said. Round-trip tickets to Europe, for example, are less than $600 through airline ticket wholesalers, and hotels are still offering discounts.

“You can do Europe almost more cheaply than you can do a United States tour package,” said Traynor, who manages the Associated Travel office in Monrovia.

Indeed, many American travelers already overseas have taken the dollar’s dive in stride. If you’re shelling out a couple of grand for a European trip, what’s a couple of hundred more, they reason. That’s what vacations--and credit cards--are for.

In London, where the dollar has dropped only about 3% against the pound in the past week, Lewis and Dorothy Ross of Tampa, Fla., paused outside Harrods department store in the chic Knightsbridge shopping district. “I wish the dollar would rise and not sink,” Lewis said, “but . . . we’ll think about the cost when we get home.”

But Christie Rothenberger and her friend Kelly Thomas, younger tourists from Texas, were holding back on spending.

“We wanted to go to English pubs and eat traditional English food, which is expensive enough in London anyway, but with the exchange rate being so bad we’ve had to stick to fast food,” Rothenberger said.

Workers at some European money exchange houses were matter-of-fact.

“We’ve had these oscillations before,” said a Rome money changer. “It simply means the dollar will stay down, probably for the rest of the week, then recuperate. This is not a big slump but a minor drop.”

Still, Americans who managed to change money before the dollar fell felt like winners.

Outside a cafe near Paris’ Madeleine church, Rancho Santa Fe liquor importer Sidney Frank said he and his wife had just paid $35 for two coffees, a pair of croissants and an Evian water. But the 74-year-old was sitting pretty in his plaid jacket and bow tie.

“Luckily, I bought enough D-marks to last for 18 months a few months ago,” Frank said. “If I bought them today, it would have cost me at least $1.5 million more.” He had also laid in a year’s supply of French brandy.

A weak dollar helps American exports and makes imports more expensive. Foreigners find it cheaper to buy dollars, so travel to the United States is less expensive for them.

The rising value of the German mark was good news, for example, to Hans Becker, a German tourist amid the World Cup hubbub in Pasadena who was planning to exchange currency Thursday morning.

“This trip was expensive,” he said. “I will take any help I can get.”

In Europe, one of those celebrating the dollar’s decline was Gerd Lindenau, director of the German branch of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration.

“Thank heavens,” Lindenau said with a laugh. “I guess I’m the only positive thing around. But a weak dollar spurs tourism to the United States. The trend in tourism out of Germany to the U.S. has been double-digit growth for the last five years, and we see a much greater potential in the future.”

The exchange rate changes, however, cut against Lindenau’s personal interests as an American who earns dollars and lives in Germany.

“Ah, personally I’m a poor man, but we take it on the chin,” he said. “The fluctuation is almost daily, and in three months or a year it will be a different story. I can remember a 4.20-mark dollar in the early ‘60s and a 1.42-mark dollar 22 months ago.” On Wednesday, the dollar bought 1.605 marks in Germany, up from 1.594 marks a day earlier.

In Tokyo, however, many Americans could not afford to take the news so well.

After paying $20 for a ham and cheese sandwich, 30-year-old NASA engineer Doug Govan of Cocoa Beach, Fla., decided against a trip out of Tokyo to Kyoto.

“I was caught a little off guard. I was expecting 110 yen for the dollar or better. When I got off at the airport, it was 98 yen,” Govan said. At his hotel, he was able to get 100 yen per dollar for traveler’s checks.

“It’s a learning experience,” Govan said.

UCLA biochemistry student Khoi Le, who arrived in Japan last April for a semester-abroad program at Meiji Gakuin in Yokohama, said he is eating more often at McDonald’s to save money. But even burgers are twice as expensive as in the United States.

“We try to stay on the high-carbohydrate (diet),” he said. “More bang for the buck.”

*

Miller reported from Bonn. Also contributing to this report were Times staff writers David Holley in Tokyo and Jesus Sanchez and George White in Los Angeles, and Times researchers Janet Stobart in Rome, Christine Black in Paris, Regine Brandon in Brussels, Chiaki Kitada in Tokyo, Ulli Seibert in Bonn and Fleur Melville in London.

* MARKETS REBOUND: Dollar, stocks and bonds rally. D2

* JAPANESE COMEBACK: Rosy outlook despite yen. D4