£800m of travel money that's left lying unused

Nine out of 10 holidaymakers fail to convert left-over foreign currency back to sterling when they return home.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Jun 2010, 22:09 BST
Updated 25th Jun 2010, 22:09 BST

Around 89 per cent of those questioned said they did not bother to change their holiday money when they got back, despite having an average of 24 left each, according to online travel agent sunshine.co.uk.

A third said they simply could not be bothered to convert the money back to sterling, while 47 per cent said they kept it for their next trip.

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But 37 per cent of those who held on to left-over travel money for their next holiday admitted they usually forgot to take it with them.

The group estimates that Britons could collectively have nearly 800m in unused foreign currency at home because of their reluctance to change it back to sterling.

Chris Brown, co-founder of sunshine.co.uk, said: "Exchanging foreign currency back to British pounds can, evidently, be one of those things that a lot of people just don't see the point of doing, but I think our study really brings home the fact there is an awful lot of foreign currency floating around in the UK that isn't being put to good use.

"It's all well and good saying you will save the currency for your next holiday but not everyone is good at sticking to this."