Traveler's guide to the Euro, including conversion of their home country's currency.
On January 1, 1999, eleven countries of the European Union (EU) elected to adopt the euro as their official currency. These countries were Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Greece followed in 2001, and on January 1, 2002, the first euro coins and notes were introduced to circulation. Despite their position within the European Union, the United Kingdom elected not to change their currency.
For travelers, this means that transitioning between the twelve above listed countries became much easier and not only due to relaxed customs procedures. Now, rather than converting to a different currency in each of the twelve countries, a traveler can convert their home currency into euros only once.
The European Central Bank is now responsible for authorization of euro banknotes, but much of the logistics of putting the currency into circulation is handled by the national central bank of that euro area. There are currently seven euro notes in issue, which range in amount from 5 euros to 500 euros (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500), and eight coins (1, 2, 5, 10, and 50 cent, 1 and 2 euros). The notes are designed for different euro areas (in a way to honor the individuality of the twelve countries who began with using the euro) and feature windows, gateways, bridges, and other architectural relics from European history. There is a country code prefix to the serial number appearing on the reverse side of each banknote, as well, that identifies its country of origin within the European Union.
The coins have a common European design on one side (literally a map of Europe) and a design on the opposite side that features one of the EU countries specifically (such as national historical figure). When the currency was being discussed, the central bank set up a competition for the design of the coins. A poll was taken among the general public and major coin using sectors, after which the EU finance ministers selected the final design. Individual countries were given considerable latitude regarding the national side of their coins. They could have the same design for all denominations, or choose eight separate designs. The only limitation was that any design must be surrounded by 12 stars (as a symbol of the EU).
The official plural form of a "euro," it should be noted, is actually still "euro." In many English-speaking countries, however, the "s" is added on, so it is socially (if not officially) acceptable to refer to 5 euro as a "5 euros."
The benefits of instituting the euro currency within these 12 countries are obvious. Again, tourists traveling across borders no longer have to concern themselves with messy (and costly) currency conversions. Furthermore, it has become far easier to compare prices amongst these countries, which in some ways has actually made things less expensive for tourists (as presumably the tourist industries within these twelve countries compete moderately with one another). Finally, even when traveling outside of the euro area, the euro's status as an "international currency" means that it is accepted in many tourist destinations across the world.
Currently, the euro is gaining strength and has even surpassed the US dollar in international market desirability. In the future, Denmark and the United Kingdom could opt to adopt the euro (as their treaties allow for them to do so at any time) and Sweden will transfer from its own currency to the euro when it meets the conditions outlined by the EU for doing so. Undeniably, the euro stands to change things not only for travelers, but for the international market in general.
