Euro rip-off was NOT in travellers’ imagination

Travellers who have visited EU countries since the introduction of the euro probably HAVE been ripped off, according to a new survey. According to the BBC News website, economists have discovered rampant “euro-related price gouging”, particularly in the catering trade, and particularly in France and Italy – despite claims by the European Central Bank that the new currency had caused no significant increases in prices across the eurozone. The survey was reportedly prompted when Giancarlo Marini, an economist at Rome University, was “eye-poppingly overcharged” in a restaurant in Venice. Marini, along with two colleagues, compared the 2002 and 2003 editions of the Michelin Red Guide and discovered that there had been steep price rises that could have only been caused by “concerted fiddling”. Prices jumped by as much as 5.5% in Italy, while in countries outside the eurozone the average bill hardly increased at all. The BBC reports that when the analysis was restricted to tourist-oriented businesses, the price differential was 6% – but in restaurants that generally served a regular clientele, there were few drastic rises. Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad