The State of the Travel Dollar, Summer 2009

7/14/2009 6 comments

I am quoted in the current issue of National Geographic Adventure, if you happen to be near a newsstand, in a pictorial feature about where the dollar is faring better this summer than it was a year ago. My list of deal destinations would have been a bit different than what is listed in the article, but it’s a start anyway. Partly my list would be different because a couple of the countries only went from “insanely expensive” to “maybe if we don’t eat much we can afford it now.” (I’m talking to you Sweden.)

Here is the list:

Chile, Argentina

Sweden, Iceland, Poland, Turkey

India

Australia, New Zealand

Suspiciously missing the most dramatic change in a country you can get to quickly: Mexico. Last summer you would have gotten around 10 pesos to the dollar. Now those of us who are here are living large on 13 to the dollar. I’d substitute Hungary or the Czech Republic for Poland. Last July you got around 146 Hungarian forints. This July you get around 200, so one-third more bang for your buck. The dollar is up about 20% in the Czech Republic.

The Euro zone has settled down to a rate about 10% better than it was last summer. The story is similar in a lot of The World’s Cheapest Destinations, including Malaysia, Morocco, and Peru.

The turmoil in Thailand has resulted in lots of deals, but no real change in the currency exchange.

The one currency stubbornly faring better than the greenback right now is the yen. If you had a trip to Japan planned, you should probably wait. Go to South Korea instead, where the Korean won is roughly 30% weaker than it was a year ago. That’ll get you a lot more kimchi and terrible beer…

Cheap Asia Travel, Cheap Europe Travel, Leffel projects, Travel bargains, Vacation deals none

Comments

Written by Kyle on 7/14/2009. Reply

Seriously. The beer in South Korea is terrible. It’s still slightly better than soju, though.
Written by Mike on 7/14/2009. Reply

I can’t believe that the Indian Rupee is so much better than when I was there in 04 — I was getting around 39 to the dollar, now it’s in the high 40s. Tempting tempting…
Written by Rainbowsurfer on 7/17/2009. Reply

What about the good old UK.

The Pound may have gone up recently but it’s nowhere near the £1 to $2 mark it was early last year.

And you know the beers better here.
Written by Steve on 7/23/2009. Reply

ooh i’ll have to disagree with you on argentina tim…sure the dollar is now worth 3.5 ar pesos, but inflation is still out of control here. i’m in buenos aires right now, just came here from tucuman, and everything from hotels to restaurants to grocery store items are considerably more expensive. wayne bernhardson’s otherwise well-written book from late 2007 isn’t even remotely relevant anymore when it comes to price – you can pretty much double the cost of anything he lists, in terms of us dollars.

at this moment i’m in the cheapest hostel with a private room i could find – it’s 20 dollars a night in microcentro, and i doubt i’ll sleep much with all the street noise right below my old non-sound-proof window. tomorrow i’ll probably break down and get a hotel off hotels.com for around 50 bucks.

last night i had an excellent seafood dinner, from a restaurant wayne recommended, but it wasn’t in the 10-12 dollar range….with the cheapest, smallest wine choice my bill was 82 pesos, or about 22 dollars. just because we’re getting 3.8 pesos to the dollar instead of 3.1 pesos, it sure doesn’t amount to any better purchasing power.
- Written by tim on 7/23/2009. Reply
  
  Thanks for the update from ground level Steve. $20 for a private room in a major city still sounds pretty decent (I think we paid $18 when we were there three years ago, in San Telmo), but you’re not the only one to point out that inflation has been getting ugly there. Many see another big crisis on the way that will plunge everything into chaos again. I’m surprised the hotels and restaurants are still that busy though, despite the global economic crisis.
Written by Bilety lotnicze on 7/27/2009. Reply

Indeed our currency (polish zloty) has been getting stronger v the dollar. Last year it was 2 pln for 1 usd, just 4 months ago it was neary 3,9 pln for 1 usd – now its back to 2,99 for 1USD. Maybe when it gets back to 2pln/1usd it will be worthwhile to fly to the usa for the weekend to do some shopping for electronic goods again. For wireless headsets for our call centre I paid in the usa 20% of the asking price in poland 1 year ago. 150 usd vs 900 usd…..

The State of the Travel Dollar, Summer 2009

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