Europe looking good for half-term hols as sterling climbs against euro

Families travelling to Europe over the half-term will find their holiday money travels further due to sterling’s recent gains against the euro, according to the latest Post Office Holiday Money Index. Customers exchanging £500 will get €617 at the Post Office, 7.6% more than a year ago and a slight increase of 0.1% over the summer. However, the UK pound has begun to falter against the dollar after a year when the greenback fell to a five-year low against sterling. The dollar has pulled back 7.3% since July, so too have the currencies that float with it, so those travelling to the US, the Caribbean and the UAE will find their pounds don’t stretch as far as during the summer. Nevertheless, the pound is still slightly up against the dollar year on year, so families won’t notice any difference this half-term compared with last October. Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: “Some of the biggest gains for sterling in recent weeks have been against European currencies, many of which have weakened between two and three per cent. “If this trend continues it will make half-term breaks and pre-Christmas visits to European cities an attractive prospect. “Further afield, the Australian and New Zealand dollars have weakened significantly. At a time when many people will be considering Christmas visits to friends and family, a rise of almost six per cent in the value of sterling compared with a month ago and even more than that compared with autumn 2013 augurs well for the holiday budget.”