The Great Exchange Robbery: Airport Bureaux Are A Black Hole For Holiday Cash

1.63m tourists waste over £21 million a year buying currency at UK airports
Families changing money at the airport lose an average of almost £13 – enough to buy three round of drinks in the Algarve or a snack lunch in the Costa del Sol
Airports in the South West, Midlands and North of England offer the worst deals

Things are looking sunny for UK tourists planning summer holidays abroad because the pound is moving up against the euro and at its highest rate for five years against the US dollar. Elsewhere it’s a similar story as sterling will buy more travel cash than last year for use in in every key holiday destination, according to Post Office® Travel Money.

However, holidaymakers risk losing that extra cash as new exchange rate research from Post Office Travel Money has revealed that between them 1.63 million people waste over £21 million a year – an average of almost £13 each - by buying their currency at UK airports¹. Surprisingly, the wastage figure is 15 per cent higher than last year, despite widespread warnings from financial experts about poor rates and commission charges on lower value transactions.

Almost two-thirds of people who buy currency at UK airports are headed for the eurozone and, based on its research, the Post Office has calculated that this means over one million people (1,073,807) lose an average of £12.56 each – amounting to £13.49 million collectively - by leaving it late to buy travel cash.

Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money, said: “We compared rates for 10 currencies at 11 UK airports with those available in Post Office branches and found that tourists buying at the airport would get less foreign cash for their pounds. In fact families changing the average value transaction of £268 into euros at the airport face losing almost £13 – enough to buy a snack lunch for four in the Costa del Sol or three rounds of drinks in the Algarve.”

“People hoping to take advantage of a 10 per cent rise in the value of sterling against the US dollar since last spring will also lose out. We found an average difference of almost £12 in what they would receive at the airport compared with in our branches.”

As six per cent of tourists are travelling to the USA, the Post Office found that £1.16 million is wasted annually, based on the average difference of almost £12 between the amount received when changing money at the airport and at Post Office high street branches.

Individually, the amount wasted on purchases of Australian and Canadian dollars is higher still. The Post Office found this averaged £18.64 on Australian dollar transactions and £18.43 for the Canadian dollar.

People visiting Dubai will lose an average of £16.71 by buying UAE dirham at the airport while those travelling to Switzerland will receive £12.96 fewer Swiss francs. The average amount wasted at UK airports was slightly lower than this for the South African rand (£10.12), Thai baht (£11.87), New Zealand dollar (£12.06) and Turkish lira (£12.21).

Holidaymakers departing from some regional airports face worse deals. Bristol Airport topped the poll when it came to poor rates for seven of the ten currencies surveyed. Tourists travelling to the eurozone could expect to receive up to £26.29 less than at a Post Office branch and over twice the average airport wastage. They would also receive fewer US dollars (£24.20), Turkish lira (£23.00), Swiss franc (£20.85), Australian dollars (£28.49), New Zealand dollars (£21.75) and South African rand (£19.43).

Newcastle and Birmingham airport bureau rates also offered poor rates for many currencies. Holidaymakers would lose out by around £17 when buying euro at these two airports rather than on the UK high street (airport average: £12.56). At Newcastle Airport they could stand to waste £33.49 on Canadian dollar purchases (airport average: £18.43), £24.54 on UAE dirham (airport average: £16.71), £20.18 on Thai baht (airport average: £11.87) and £17.93 when buying US dollars (airport average: £11.88).

HOW HOLIDAYMAKERS COULD SPEND MONEY WASTED IN AIRPORT BUREAUX:
The total of £21.08 million wasted per year at UK airports would buy²:
-617,071 family meals including drinks in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria
-Almost 25 million cups of coffee in the Algarve, Costa Blanca or Majorca

£12.56, the average wastage per transaction of £268 into euro would buy:
-9 ice creams in Majorca
-A snack lunch for a family of four in the Costa del Sol
-9 bottles of beer in the Algarve
-7 glasses of wine in the Algarve or Costa Blanca
-2 sets of bucket & spade in Corfu

Holidaymakers wasting £23.00 on a £268 purchase of Turkish lira at Bristol Airport could have used this to buy the following in Marmaris:
-An ice cream a day for two children for one week
-A snack lunch for a family of four plus two beers and two Coca-Colas

In Orlando the £11.88 average wastage when changing £268 into US dollars would buy:
-A snack lunch for a family of four plus two ice creams
-One beer, one glass of wine and two Coca-Colas

30 currencies are available on demand at 1,600 larger Post Office branches while 10,000 offer euro and over 4,000 branches offer US dollars and Turkish lira over the counter. More than 70 currencies can be pre-ordered at over 11,500 Post Office branches or online at postoffice.co.uk for next day branch or home delivery.

¹ Source: The total amount wasted on currency purchases at UK airports was calculated using data from the International Passenger Survey, Post Office and Ipsos-Mori foreign exchange omnibus to establish the number of foreign exchange transactions made annually in the UK, and the airport market share of this. This found:

An estimated 1,626,981 UK airport transactions are made annually, with 66 per cent of that total calculated to be euro transactions (1,073,807). US dollar transactions represent a further six per cent (97,618) and the remaining 28 per cent (455,556) is divided between other currencies.

An annual wastage figure of £21,079,166. Post Office Travel Money calculated this by finding the difference between the euro and US dollar exchange rate at bureaux in 11 UK airports (adding any commission charges) and at Post Office bureau de change branches on four separate days in April 2014, based on a sterling value purchase of £268 (Post Office average bureau transaction), and taking the mean average. The airports surveyed were: Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Luton, London Stansted, Manchester and Newcastle. Rates for a further eight bestselling currencies (Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, New Zealand dollar, South African rand, Swiss franc, Thai baht, Turkish lira and UAE dirham), regarded as representative of currency purchases for the 28 per cent of non-euro or US dollar transactions, were priced at nine airports (Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Manchester and Newcastle) and compared with Post Office bureaux rates using the same formula as for the euro and US dollar.

The average wastage figures per transaction were:
Euro £12.56
US Dollar £11.88
Australian dollar £18.64
Canadian dollar £18.43
New Zealand dollar £12.06
South African rand £10.12
Swiss Franc £12.96
Thai Baht £11.87
Turkish Lira £12.21
UAE Dirham £16.71

The wastage figure is based on a purchase of £268, the average transaction made at Post Office bureaux de change.

² Research from the Post Office Holiday Costs Barometer was used to establish what the wastage by UK holidaymakers would actually buy in the eurozone and in other countries.

Contact - Gabrielle O’Gara