A clear polarisation in foreign exchange rate movement over the past three months is revealed in a new report.
While sterling has surged ahead of almost every European currency – making gains of up to 20% year-on-year – it has fallen steadily in value against the US dollar.
This means that tourists visiting some of the most popular long-haul destinations will have 11% less cash to spend, according to the latest Post Office Travel Money index.
The east Caribbean dollar, Barbados dollar and UAE dirham are aligned with the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the euro has fallen against sterling by 7.5% since January and 13.5% year-on-year.
Despite the plunge in value against the dollar, sterling is stronger against three quarters of the 20 best-selling currencies.
Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: “Sterling’s rise against the euro has been well documented but its biggest gains have been against Scandinavian and eastern European currencies.
“Coupled with price falls in many destinations surveyed for cost of living barometers, this means that tourists visiting Europe can expect their travel money to stretch much further.”
He added: “By contrast, few long-haul destinations present such a value proposition, so it is interesting from our currency sales that people seem aware of this and are picking places like Mexico and Mauritius where they know they can get more value for their money.”