Holiday Money Index reveals currency sales surge that confirms Britons’ intention to travel abroad in 2022

Britons are buying holiday currencies at far higher levels than before the Covid-19 pandemic first took hold in the UK in Spring 2020. The first Post Office Travel Money Holiday Money Index of 2022 covering January-March 2022 reveals strong growth in a wide range of currencies compared with the first quarter of 2020 and indicates that significant numbers of Britons intend to holiday abroad for the first time in two years. In particular, the extraordinary growth shown by currencies for Croatia and the Caribbean islands suggests these are set to be the destinations of choice for British holidaymakers.

Sales for most currencies have been accelerating since the start of the year and 14 of the Post Office’s bestselling currencies – including the euro and US dollar - have surged past their healthy sales levels two years ago. The most spectacular growth has been for the Croatian kuna. After recording the highest Post Office growth of 52 per cent in 2021, kuna purchases have risen 10-fold since January and are now up 137 per cent for the first quarter of 2022 compared with 2020 (fact sheet table 1).

Caribbean currencies have also seen high levels of growth – most notably the Barbados dollar and Jamaican dollar, whose sales have rocketed by over 100 per cent since 2020. Big rises have also been charted by the Mexican peso (up 91 per cent) and East Caribbean dollar (+89%), which suggests that holidaymakers will be heading to resorts including Cancun, St Lucia, Antigua and Grenada.

Nick Boden, Post Office Head of Travel Money said: “We are used to seeing a spring surge in sales of the Croatian kuna, but the rise in March was unprecedented, indicating that Croatia is set to have another highly successful year. We have also seen an extraordinary rise in sales of Caribbean and Central American currencies in 2022. It suggests that pent-up demand is resulting in many Britons planning holidays of a lifetime to some of the world’s most aspirational destinations.”

Post Office Travel Money’s fastest growing currencies comparison of two-year sales also shows that holidaymakers are planning trips to Mauritius (rupee sales up 45 per cent) and Dubai (UAE dirham sales up 67 per cent), the latter now fourth in the Post Office bestselling currencies chart (fact sheet table 3). The euro remains the most popular currency for British holidaymakers with sales in March more than double those in January. US dollar sales rose 85 per cent in March compared with January.

Reporting on rate movements, the Exchange Rate Monitor (fact sheet table 2) reveals that sterling is stronger against more of Post Office Travel Money’s top 30 currencies in 2020 than 2021. Sterling has risen against 16 currencies compared with April 2021 but is up against 70 per cent of bestsellers since April 2020. The biggest two-year gain of over 115 per cent is against the Turkish Lira, giving Britons over £268 more cash on a £500 transaction. The monitor also shows sizeable sterling gains of over 20 per cent against the Mauritius rupee, Costa Rican colon and Japanese yen since 2020.

In addition to measuring exchange rate movements and foreign currency sales trends, the Post Office

Holiday Money Index also reports on the cost of meals and drinks in destinations whose currency sales have grown most over the past two years and found a wide disparity of costs.

Prices in Marmaris, Turkey are far lower than in any other destination because of the weak lira but, leaving this aside, the other 10 resorts surveyed vary dramatically in price. Prices have fallen by 13 per cent since 2020 in Orlando, Florida and the £55.62 cost of a three-course meal for two with a bottle of wine and a range of four drinks (coffee, beer, coca cola and wine) is less than half the price in Barbados (£133.70).

Long-haul hotspots Mauritius (£60.35), Costa Rica (£61.68) and Jamaica (£64.32) also look great value compared with Barbados, while in Europe, Croatia (£64.02) is reasonably priced. Prices in all six of the cheapest destinations surveyed are lower than in 2020. Although this is mainly because of the stronger pound, the falls in Orlando, Mauritius, Costa Rica and Jamaica have also been boosted by a drop in local prices.

Nick Boden commented: “Holidaymakers who are still considering where to book should take resort costs into account because our Holiday Costs Barometer research found big variations in the cost of meals and drinks. Turkey is cheapest by far but, across the Atlantic, price falls in Orlando make it an attractive choice – especially for families - and summer sun bargain hunters are likely to find Costa Rica and Jamaica the best value at less than half the cost of Barbados. Travelling east, Mauritius also looks great value.”

Conversely, the higher prices found in Mexico (Cancun, £73.37), St Lucia (Rodney Bay, £89.71), Dubai (Jumeirah, £115.81) and Barbados (Bridgetown, £133.70) are the result of an increase in local resort prices. In the case of Mexico, a 13 per cent fall for sterling against the peso also contributed to the higher prices.

The Post Office is the UK’s leading foreign currency provider, offering around 60 currencies for pre-order at around 7,000 Post Office branches or online at www.postoffice.co.uk/travel for next day branch or home delivery. 3,600 larger Post Office branches stock the leading currencies and around 7,000 offer euros over the counter without pre-order. These can also be ordered online for same day ‘click and collect’ at selected branches, next day collection at any branch or home delivery.

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