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Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 01/27/2008 02:57:30 AM PST



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First airlines and cruise lines added fuel surcharges. Now some European tour operators are tacking on currency surcharges to cover increased costs as the dollar continues its free fall. Globus, the largest U.S. tour operator, last week added a $20-$190 surcharge to 85 percent of its 2008 European tours. That raises by 5 percent the average cost of trips, including those operated by sister companies Cosmos, Monograms and Avalon Waterways.

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That will just make choices easier. There are thousands of tour operators which have not added the surcharge. Many have raised their prices only because of the exchange rate change, prices in their local currancy usually have not gone up, but if paying in US dollars, the dollars to buy that same euro priced tour will be higher.
Here in Russia the dollar is pretty weak, lower than I've ever seen it but the last few days the dollar has rallied a little.
The strange thing is that most fuel contracts are in Dollars so the weakness of the dollar has actually created a situation where tour operators paying dollars for fuel but collecting euros for tours are actually making a windfall profit. When the euro or Ruble become the currency of oil contracts as is planned, there will be a major price increase in North America.

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