Planning your holiday spends can be tough to plan, especially with the current economic uncertainty in currency exchange value, some Brits may be tempted to take more needed to have peace of mind. It would seem though, that a quarter of us lack such discipline or organisation, as a new study shows 1 in 4 will run out of money on the third day of holiday.
While you’re planning your holiday, thoughts of soaking up the sun, swimming in the sea and exploring the sights may occupy your mind the most. Budgeting may come last priority for some, with a quality over quantity mentality mindset. Whilst the experience should come top of plans, so should the budgeting as the study shows many of us leaving ourselves short early on in our jollies.
Conducted by the Travel Money Club, the study revealed that nine in 10 Brits will overspend on their holiday abroad in 2018 because they are either confused by the exchange rate, or that they simply don’t care. A worrying reason indeed if true.
Tips to save when you travel
So how can you avoid splashing the cash unnecessarily this year? Luckily we’ve got some tips to help you budget.
- Make sure you know your exchange rate – a huge 75% of travellers asked had no idea what the exchange rate for their location was, with 45% saying they didn’t know how to find the best deal and finally 1 in 3 people didn’t know whether to use cash or credit cards abroad. This can be easily rectified by making sure you shop around at supermarkets and travel agencies to find the best exchange rate at the time, use Google to get the standard base rate to measure against so you don’t get a bad deal. Another tip to budget yourself to a daily limitis to get a Revolut card that can be used to put cash onto and serves as an easy way to take out foreign cash at abroad machines.
- Watch what you drink – it has been revealed that 1 in 5 people unintentionally spend up to £20 on a single alcoholic drink abroad, so make sure you know where to find cheaper drinks, it could be worth befriending your hotel staff to see where they drink when not on shift to find low key and usually cheaper bars to frequent. Doing research before you go can also give good insight to the average bar prices so you know what to expect.
- It’s not all about the souvenirs – The poll reveals some Brits spend around £200 more than planned on gifts while travelling on items such as jewellery, alcohol, sunglasses and handbags, making plenty of use of the duty free prices at the airport as well as at the chosen destination. While it is thoughtful to bring home gifts for loved ones, make sure you have planned it into your budget in advance so that you don’t risk over-spending and again do a quick search to see if the price you are paying is worth buying abroad compared to back home.
Commenting on the findings, Don Clark, founder of the Travel Money Club said: “Foreign currency is a minefield for holidaymakers if they don’t know what to look out for. Familiarising yourself with the current conversion rates and reading the small print on charges and commissions will prevent unexpected surprises when buying foreign currency”.
So, if you’re planning a trip abroad make sure you do your research to find the best deals for you, otherwise, you may end up out of pocket.
