LONDON, 1 July 2025: Two-thirds of Britons plan to holiday abroad this year despite concerns about affordability and travel costs, according to findings featured in the annual Post Office Holiday Spending Report.
The study also showed that more than half plan to increase budgets to reduce the 37% average overspend on their last trip.
Over three-quarters of holidaymakers worry about the value of sterling and Trump’s tariffs.
Britons rate Spain, Turkey and Thailand as best value — but the Thai baht is one of only five bestselling Post Office currencies to surge against sterling since last summer.
Exchange Rate Monitors show visitors to Turkey will get the most for their money.
For the fifth year running, Post Office Travel Money’s Holiday Spending Report reveals a sharp rise in Britons planning trips abroad. Two-thirds (66%, up 5% year-on-year) of those surveyed for the annual report say they intend to take a holiday abroad this year1, and more than half (54%) have already booked their trip despite growing concerns voiced by nine-in-10 of them about whether they have enough money to afford the trip. In spite of this, holidaymakers say they are setting bigger budgets after overspending by an average of 37 % on their last trip but admit to being worried about sterling’s strength and the impact of the planned US trade tariffs.
Over three-quarters (77%) told Post Office, the UK’s largest foreign exchange provider, that exchange rates are a significant concern for them, while an even higher proportion (78%) are worried about the potential impact of US trade tariffs on prices in foreign destinations. As a result, over half (53%) will actively avoid destinations where they think the tariffs could affect resort prices, while two-in-five (39%) will not travel to the USA even though they had previously considered doing so.
Looking at where they might travel instead, holidaymakers rated Spain (41%), Turkey (35%) and Thailand (31%) best value for money out of 39 worldwide destinations. Yet, the latest Post Office Exchange Rate Monitor, published within the Holiday Spending Report for the first time, found that the Thai baht was one of only five of the 30 bestselling currencies to rise in value against sterling. A sterling year-on-year fall of 5.2% means that British visitors will get £27.64 fewer Thai baht on a typical £500 currency transaction.
Given that almost half (48%) of holidaymakers said they will choose their destination based on the strength of sterling, two other Far Eastern destinations – Vietnam and Bali – will offer Britons more for their money. Visitors to Vietnam, which took seventh place in the Post Office’s Worldwide Holiday Costs Barometer earlier this year, will get the equivalent of £42.01 – or 9.2% extra – on a £500 purchase of Vietnamese dong. Those choosing Bali, fourth-placed in the barometer, can expect around £33 (7.1%) more in Indonesian rupiah than a year ago.
The Exchange Rate Monitor looked at how sterling is performing against Post Office Travel Money’s 30 bestselling currencies compared with 12 and three months ago. It reveals that the UK pound is stronger than a year ago against 25 of the 30 currencies and has gained ground against 80 %t of them since March. The monitor shows that visitors to Turkey will get the most for their money.
Although visitors to Eurozone countries will get slightly more — just under one % – for their money compared with last year and marginally more than three months ago, this is dwarfed by the ongoing long-term collapse of the Turkish lira. The scale of this is shown by the 12.9% fall of the lira against the pound over the past three months. Compared with last June, visitors can now expect to receive around £116 (+30.2%) more when they buy £500 worth of lira.
Sterling has also bounced back against the US dollar and is currently 6.6% stronger than a year ago as well as having gained 4.9 %t in the past three months. Although demand for US trips may be in question, holidaymakers can still benefit as the dollar recovery also extends to the Caribbean and Middle East currencies that are pegged to the dollar. It means Britons planning trips to Barbados, Antigua, Dubai, and other long-haul holiday favourites will get more for their pounds.
The Holiday Spending Report compares the financial intentions expressed by holidaymakers now with their past behaviour. In a change to previous years, over half (52%, up from 22 % questioned in January) say they will budget more for their next holiday due to increased costs. However, the report concludes that a significant budget increase will be needed because of the high levels of overspending by holidaymakers on their previous holiday. Over four-in-five (82%) of them said that they had set a budget averaging £377 on their last trip but seven-in-10 (71%) admitted overspending this by £140 – 37% more than their budget.
The report also found that worrying habits persist when making payments abroad. While it is well recognised that it is advisable to carry some cash overseas, one-in-five (21%) relied solely on plastic to pay for purchases and a quarter (27%) changed less than £100 into foreign currency. As a consequence, more holidaymakers ran into difficulties. 7% tried to pay a restaurant, shop or bar bill with a credit card, only to find that it was not accepted. More than one-in-10 (11%) also fell foul of a practice known as Dynamic Currency Conversion by agreeing to pay on their card in sterling rather than local currency, incurring unnecessary transaction charges as a result.
14 %t withdrew money at an ATM and incurred bank transaction charges as a result. This was most likely to happen to younger holidaymakers. 17% of those in the 25-34 age group and 19% of 35-54 year-olds admitted paying transaction charges on cash withdrawals. 5% said they could not find an ATM, while 4% found that the machine was out of order or would not supply them with cash.
One-in-eight (13%), rising to more than one-in-five (21%) of older travellers aged 55-64. chose to load cash onto a prepaid travel money card, according to the latest spending research.
The full results of the 2025 Post Office Travel Money Holiday Spending Report can be viewed online at postoffice.co.uk/holidayspending.
If you’d like to know more, you can also download the full report.
