It's a great year for tourism in Europe. "One of the best summer seasons in years," gushes Adele Biss, chairman of the British Tourist Authority. "Our markets are growing remarkably," says Joaquim Cabrito Neto, former civil governor of Portugal's popular Algarve region. "We're overwhelmed," exclaims Sergio Poeta, head of E.I.S. travel agency in Rome.

It's a lousy year for tourism in Europe. "Visitors from neighboring countries like Holland and Germany have slipped 10%," laments Sissy Puttaert at the information office on Brussels' magnificent Grand Place. French restaurateurs are moaning, while the worsening drop in Swiss vacationers has led to calls for a revolution in the country's civil but icy attitude toward visitors. "We need to offer more friendliness and personal charm," says Lausanne journalist Jacques Pilet.

Call it the curse of the currency traders. With Europe's August exodus in full swing, the tourist industry is booming or busting, depending on how countries and their currencies fared in the recent turmoil on foreign-exchange markets, which sent the value of the German mark and linked currencies soaring while the dollar, lira, pound and others plunged. The weak inherit the earth's vacationers. "Tourism is like an export and gets affected the same way," says Geoffrey Lipman, president of the World Travel & Tourism Council.

Consider the behavior this year of tax-battered Germans, Europe's champion tourists. Last-minute bookings at L-tur, Germany's biggest specialist for late deals, are up 20% over last year. "The motto this spring was 'Don't book; everything will get cheaper,' " says Ralf Corsten, chairman of TUI. And prices did drop-some operators discounted 50% in the final days before departure, offering round-trip tickets to Mallorca for about $250-vs. $327 for the cheapest scheduled Munich-Bonn flight.

The list of countries having a poor tourist season reads like a banker's honor roll. Austria and Switzerland say their visitor numbers are down on last year, while Germany, where foreign arriv als dropped 16% from 1990 to 1994, expects a flat performance for 1995. The allure of France, perennially Europe's most popular destination, with more than 60 million visitors in 1994, will attract still more this year despite bomb blasts in Paris. But the "franc fort" means they'll be spending less. Phil Snee from Pennsylvania, one of the early-morning crowd lined up at the Louvre this summer, avoids restaurants: "We just buy a baguette, some cheese and wine, and take it back to the room."

By contrast, in Italy, where the German mark has leaped 53% against the lira since 1992 and even the dollar is up 37%, a "golden season" is being fueled by a 7% rise in German visitors and a 10% jump in Americans. Portugal is expecting a 10% to 15% boost in visitors, and Tourism Secretary of State Alexandre Relvas predicts, "For the first time in three years we will have an increase in earnings." Even so, some complain that the relative strength of the escudo, up 7% over last year's pound, is crimping spending by British holiday makers, the country's main tourists. "The restaurants are having a crisis," says the Algarve's Cabrito Neto. "Many of our visitors stay in apartments and cook at home."

To beat that problem, neighboring Spain, where the peseta has been devalued four times since 1992, is targeting bigger spenders by raising quality. Last April local officials dynamited a seedy four-story hotel near the royal playground of Palma de Mallorca, and will replace it with a public garden. The effort seems to be working. Though tourist numbers grew 4% in the first half of the year, net income jumped 9%, and the luxury yacht basins along the Costa del Sol are jammed.

Working at it-or not working at it-can make a big difference. Weak-currency Greece is suffering, thanks to strikes, inflation and a reputation for poor quality. Unusually sunny Britain, on the other hand, is forecasting a record year, having developed some unlikely tourist spots. Once dowdy, industrial Manchester, whose unsuccessful bid for the 2000 Olympics energized the city's pride and image, now boasts the world's 14th busiest international airport. The tacky seaside resort of Blackpool is playing host to hordes of tour-package Muscovites, who can buy "Kiss Me Quick" hats translated into Russian. The Japanese come to Blackpool to indulge their particular passion for ballroom dancing. Others are also tapping the Asian market. Lucerne, with 4.5% more tourists than last year, is bucking the general Swiss doldrums by luring tours from Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

When the sun lotion is lathered and all the art gawked at, Europe will still end the season as the world's top travel destination. Yet industry professionals will spend the winter fretting over a worrying trend: the Continent is steadily losing market share to faster-growing emerging markets, particularly in Asia. The cathedrals, the art, the history, the beaches and the food will always be there, but without better attention to competitive pricing and service, the crowds may not be.

-Reported by Martha de la Cal/Lisbon, Kate Noble/London, Rhea Schoenthal/ Bonn, Jane Walker/Madrid, with other bureaus