Rollercoaster currency rates sort holiday winners and losers

Thailand, last year’s ‘value’ option, is now one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations, according to Post Office Travel Money.

The UK’s largest provider of foreign exchange today revealed that the Thai baht has moved up to tenth place in its 20 bestselling currencies for 2009, a list dominated by the euro and US dollar.

With Thai baht purchases up 15 per cent last year, Thailand was one of seven destinations recording sizeable increases in currency sales at Post Office bureaux de change. Others included Turkey, Croatia and South Africa. All three moved up the Post Office bestsellers table – to third, 14th and 8th place respectively.

And with sterling now making gains against most holiday currencies, the Post Office has calculated that holidaymakers can look forward to receiving more foreign cash in return for their pounds in 13 of the 20 bestsellers, compared with twelve months ago, when the UK currency hit the doldrums.

Some of the biggest gains will be for tourists travelling mid-haul to Egypt and Dubai, whose currencies have fallen by almost 15 per cent against sterling compared with a year ago. Both gained ground last year: Egyptian pound sales were up nine per cent, consolidating a strong sixth position, while the UAE dirham moved up to 11th in the table on the back of a six per cent rise in sales.

Longer term research for the Post Office’s 2009 Holiday Money Report revealed that Egypt was the decade’s top mid-haul destination with a 45 per cent sales growth since 2005. Demand for Dubai has been unrelenting, despite last autumn’s financial crisis, with a 205 per cent leap in Post Office dirham sales in four years.

Sarah Munro, Post Office Head of Travel Money, said: “Low package prices and cheap resort costs made Egypt popular in the noughties. The weaker Egyptian pound combined with a top ten place in our Worldwide Holiday Cost Barometer3 of destinations offering the lowest costs for tourist staples, should also make Egypt a star choice in 2010.

“Five-star hotels at three-star prices in Dubai should also help to boost demand for the Emirate again in 2010, especially as UK tourists will have almost 15 per cent more dirhams in their pockets, thanks to the stronger UK pound.”

Meanwhile visitors to the USA can expect a boost to their spending money of nearly 15 per cent as sterling springs back from its low in January 2009. The weakening US dollar has also had a positive knock on effect on destinations with currencies that float with the dollar – in particular the Caribbean Islands.

Holidaymakers visiting Jamaica can expect to receive over 29 per cent more cash and the same benefit applies to tourists planning trips to St Lucia or Antigua where the East Caribbean dollar has dropped in value by nearly 17 per cent. Similarly sterling will buy over 15 per cent more Barbados dollars.

However, people travelling Down Under will get less Australian dollars (-14.8 per cent) or New Zealand dollars (-16.6 per cent), as sterling has slumped against both currencies. Despite this, demand for Australian dollars grew by eight per cent in 2009, according to Post Office currency statistics, making this one of the most resilient holiday destinations.

More information about currencies trends is available in the fourth annual Post Office Holiday Money Report at: postoffice.co.uk/holidaymoneyreport2009. This reviews 2009 travel trends and identifies ten currencies for 2010, based on exchange rate trends and events taking place during the year.

All major currencies are available at the Post Office. Over 70 currencies can be pre-ordered at 12,000 Post Office branches or online at postoffice.co.uk for next day branch or home delivery. 29 currencies are available on demand at 1,600 larger Post Office branches, while an additional 2,600 offer US dollars on demand and a total of over 8,500 branches offer euros on demand.