One of the big travel cliches this year is that everyone is escaping the Eurozone. So where are they going?
The British pound has taken a tumble against virtually every currency, yet it seems the Euro is taking most of the bad publicity. Turkey is often cited as a good alternative to the Eurozone, but you still get 10% less Turkish Lira for your pound than 2 years ago. This compares to 23% less Euros, which is similar to America, Morocco, Egypt and Croatia.
The pound is faring particularly badly compared to the Swiss Franc, where there has been a 30% drop in the exchange rate. This is bad news for a number of ski operators because Swiss Hoteliers aren’t well-known for dropping their rates.
So where is a good place to go to escape the Eurozone? It really comes down to Iceland or staying in the UK.
| 2009 |
2008 |
% Diff | 2007 |
% Diff | |
| Australia | 1.99 | 2.07 | -3.86 | 2.37 | -16.03 |
| Barbados | 3.02 | 3.85 | -21.56 | 3.94 | -23.35 |
| Bulgaria | 2.18 | 2.45 | -11.02 | 2.86 | -23.78 |
| Costa Rica | 880 | 996 | -11.65 | 1025 | -14.15 |
| Croatia Kuna | 8.19 | 9.1 | -10.00 | 10.74 | -23.74 |
| Egypt | 8.56 | 10.43 | -17.93 | 11.284 | -24.14 |
| Euro | 1.12 | 1.25 | -10.40 | 1.46 | -23.29 |
| Iceland | 191 | 154 | 24.03 | 126 | 51.59 |
| Mexico | 20.18 | 20.42 | -1.18 | 21.4 | -5.70 |
| Morocco | 12.49 | 14.35 | -12.96 | 16.41 | -23.89 |
| Oman | 0.58 | 0.75 | -22.67 | 0.76 | -23.68 |
| Switzerland | 1.67 | 2.04 | -18.14 | 2.41 | -30.71 |
| Turkey | 2.38 | 2.43 | -2.06 | 2.64 | -9.85 |
| Tunisia | 2.09 | 2.29 | -8.73 | 2.57 | -18.68 |
| US | 1.53 | 2.04 | -25.00 | 1.98 | -22.7 |
So why the bad press for the Euro when the exchange rate is as bad virtually everywhere else? Part of it is because it has been used as an easy target by operators selling destinations outside of Europe and it’s not easy to set the record straight once the message is out there that Europe offers lousy value.
