Revealed: The destinations where your pound will stretch further this summer
British holidaymakers venturing to Turkey this summer have received an unexpected financial boost after the Turkish lira slipped further against the pound.
Sterling is now 5.4 per cent up on the currency compared to six months ago, and 14 per cent against this time last year, earning travellers an additional £63 worth of lira for every £500 exchanged, according to analysis by the Post Office and FairFX. President Tayyip Erdogan this week sacked the chief of the Turkish central bank in the latest blow to the nation’s economic standing.
Though the pound has suffered a bumpy ride in recent years, in good news to travellers it remains stronger against 40 per cent of the Post Office’s best selling currencies of the last six months, including 1 per cent up against the eurozone. Year-on-year, it is down slightly - 1.2 per cent - against the euro.
Visitors to Iceland this summer, however, will receive 11.4 per cent more krona for their pound, compared to last July; travellers down under will be handed 1.1 per cent more Australian dollars.
Turkey was noted earlier in the year by tour operator Thomas Cook as one of the beneficiaries of the recent travails of the pound, with holidaymakers turning their backs on the eurozone in search of better value elsewhere.
“Strong sales for Turkey suggests that consumers are switching onto the fact that the price of meals, drinks and other staples in resorts and cities can add significantly to their holiday cost,” said Nick Boden, head of travel money at the Post Office.
“Picking a destination where prices on the ground are low can outweigh the impact of a weak exchange rate, but a destination where prices and cheap and sterling is strong is the best bet.”
Figures from currency analysts FairFX show there remains good value further afield, too, with sterling up against Argentina, by 42 per cent, compared to 12 months ago. Visitors would earn £149 more pesos for every £500 exchanged. Similar is true of Zambia (the pound is up 21 per cent) and Colombia (the pound is up 5 per cent).
Visitors returning to Sri Lanka are destined for good value, too, with the pound up 3 per cent compared to this time last year. Travellers might also expect cheaper air fares from the UK after the government announced it was to reduce airline charges to help boost tourism in the country in the wake of the Easter bombings.
Insight into where Britons are heading this summer was provided by the 10 currencies to have grown most in popularity over the last year, according to half year sales at the Post Office (January-June 2019 compared with the same period in 2018).
Sales of the Egyptian pound were up 506 per cent compared to last year, indicating a growing confidence in returning to the destination after years of instability. However, Sharm el Sheikh, once the most popular Red Sea resort, still remains off-limits.
The Japanese yen (up 10 per cent), Polish zloty (+8 per cent) and Barbados dollar (+7 per cent) are also selling well while purchases of the Trinidad and Tobago dollar have rocketed by 46 per cent compared with last year.
Significantly, there has been a 3 per cent rise in US dollar sales and a further 4 per cent growth for the Turkish lira, building on the strong increases seen last year when the currency was falling in value steeply.
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