16 Jul 2009

Category: Europe Travel Insurance News

Exchange rates 'could start to affect destination choice'

Foreign exchange rates on currency are going to have a bigger effect on where people choose to go on holiday in the future.

This is according to head of trading at FairFX Rishi Patel, who said: "When the sterling was crashing, it did really wake a lot of people to foreign exchange and how significant it really is."

He went on to say that some currencies, such as the dollar, had seen a really big jump and exchange rates would become "a key factor in holidays and another consideration".

Whereas sterling has fallen 14 per cent against the euro, it has actually risen eight per cent against the Turkish lira, making Turkey an attractive destination from a holiday money perspective.

Turkish lira was the third most popular currency in the second quarter of 2009 for British holiday insurance holders, according to sales figures from M&S Money. This represented a 27 per cent increase on the figures for 2008.