Holidaymakers take care of cash
April 5, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Banking
Almost half of British tourists fear for the safety of their holiday cash and are prepared to go to any lengths to protect it, new research has found.
In a run-up to the Easter break, 45 per cent of people questioned in a survey for Lloyds TSB Money Card said they feared their holiday money would go astray, with 16 per cent even prepared to wear a bum bag to avoid having their cash stolen.
Of the 1,000 people questioned, a further 19 per cent said they hid their money in secret pockets of bags while soaking up the sun, while 23 per cent admitted to stashing cash away under their clothes to keep it safe.
In addition, 22 per cent said they spread their foreign currency across different places on their person in a bid to thwart pickpockets.
Despite fears about losing their money, over a third (36 per cent) of holidaymakers said they took between £400 and £1,000 in cash away with them.
“In a bid to keep our cash safe it seems that we are willing to go to embarrassing fashion extremes but, in this day and age, taking huge amounts of cash abroad just isn’t necessary,” said Jatin Patel, head of foreign transactions at Lloyds TSB.
The bank has just launched a new Visa-style money card which can be topped up with euros or dollars by travellers as they need it.
Meanwhile, research published by the Post Office this week shows that the pound is stretching further abroad this year.
Poland, the Czech Republic, Thailand and Hungary were found to be the only nations out of a total of 16 countries to offer poorer exchange rates to Britons than at the same time last year.
