"If a U.S. business traveler has meetings in two or more European countries during one trip, the single currency makes it easier than ever to compare hotel room rates across borders to choose the best deal," notes Bjorn Hanson, Ph.D., New York-based global hospitality and leisure consulting group leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Financial Advisory Services (FAS) practice.

"For example, comparing hypothetical room rates of 3,820.50 Belgian Francs for a room in Brussels, 1022.40 French Francs for a room in Paris, 22,500 Spanish Pesetas for a room in Madrid and 300,060 Italian lire for accommodations in Rome requires time and calculation. But a single currency reveals that -- in this example and as of 9:00 a.m. EST on January 4 -- the best rate among these is in Brussels at 94.71 Euros, followed by Madrid at 135.22 Euros, Rome at 154.97 Euros and Paris at 155.85 Euros," Dr. Hanson observes. Such rate comparisons are especially attractive to the travelers in the leisure and meetings segments of the lodging business, he notes.

The single currency is likely to be a boon to cross-border travel in Europe, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"The single currency adds significant momentum to the economic relationships that have been building among European nations for decades," Dr. Hanson says. "Whereas traditional currencies emphasized and reinforced national identities and histories, the Euro provides a modern, uniform medium of exchange free of national association, identification and idiosyncrasy. The Euro's very existence facilitates cross-border interchange and movement."

But other factors -- at least as important as the Euro -- will fuel cross-border travel in Europe, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

These factors include

• new, inexpensive short-haul airlines such as Easy Jet, Ryan Air and Go;
• greatly enhanced road and rail infrastructure across the continent;
• wider acceptance of electronic booking by hotels;
• globalization of hotel and airline customer loyalty programs;
• rapid mergers and acquisitions among European travel and tour operators with major deals in Germany, the UK and Italy in the last two weeks alone, and another anticipated in France.