Egypt ‘Best Value Destination’ in Foreign Currency Analysis

Holidaymakers to Egypt will get almost 73% more for their money than a year ago – the equivalent of more than £210 extra on a £500 currency transaction.

According to Post Office Travel Money research, British travellers to Sharm el-Sheikh will spend about £48 for a three-course dinner for two with a bottle of wine, compared with more than twice that amount in Antigua (£100) or Barbados (£105).

According to the Post Office’s exchange rate watch, the Costa Rican colon (-22%), Mexican peso (-19%), and Jamaican dollar (-13%) have seen the largest year-over-year declines in the value of pounds.

Last year, the Turkish Lira lost more than 180% of its value against the Pound, compared to March 2020, before the epidemic began. This means that visitors will receive £321 more in Turkish Lira on a £500 transaction than they would have in 2020, which is a tempting inducement for British travellers.

But just ten of the Post Office’s 30 leading currencies have seen year-on-year falls in their value against the sterling.

An unwelcome decline in the worth of the pound against many other currencies can be seen when comparing exchange rates today with those from three and six months back. It has fallen 9.5% against the Hungarian forint and is now 5% lower than it was in August of last year, raising the price of a Budapest city break.

Despite year-over-year declines of over 11% in the value of sterling, analysis of sales for the previous year reveals that the currencies exhibiting the greatest growth compared with the pre-Covid era are those for Caribbean and Latin American nations.

Led by the east Caribbean dollar, where sales rose 137%, these currencies take the top seven places in the Post Office’s 10 fastest-growing currencies for the 12 months to January 2023. This is part of a pattern of growth noted over the past three years.

Ed Dutton, Post Office portfolio director, financial services, said: “The fairest measure of demand is to compare currency sales now with the busy period before the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Sales of Caribbean and Latin American currencies were particularly strong then, so it is encouraging that they are even more buoyant now.

“However, sterling has fallen in value against many of these currencies so holidaymakers should factor this into their holiday budgeting.

“A destination like Sharm el-Sheikh may prove cheaper because of the Egyptian pound’s steep fall in value against sterling.”