Tourist Currency Rates (Saturday 7th November 2009)

Travelling abroad on holiday or business? Check out our tourist rate guide to see how much your pound will get you when you buy currency at your travel agent or bureau de change. Here's what your £ Sterling is worth. The rates shown below are updated daily at approximately 09:30am.

	Currency	Rate
	Australia - Dollars	1.7365
	Bahrain - Dinar	0.5894
	Barbados - Dollar	2.937
	Bermuda - Dollars	1.5698
	Brazil - Real	2.4862
	Bulgaria - Leva	2.0669
	Canada - Dollars	1.7241
	China - Yuan Renminbi	10.3312
	Croatia - Kuna	7.4931
	Czech - Koruny	26.8817
	Denmark - Kroner	7.9288
	Dominican - Pesos	54.575
	Egypt - Pounds	8.2183
	Euro	1.088
	Gambia Dalasi	38.4804
	Hong Kong - Dollars	12.1587
	Hungary - Forint	285.2608
	Indonesia - Rupiah	14155.2
	Israel - Shekels	5.8699
	Jamaica - Dollar	132.768
	Japan - Yens	142.4322
	Jordan - Dinar	1.0293
	Kenya - Shilling	110.584
	Malaysia - Ringgit	5.2999
	Mexico - Pesos	20.909
	New Zealand - Dollars	2.1096
	Norway - Kroner	8.9786
	Philippines - Pesos	69.8594
	Poland - Zloty	4.4385
	Russia - Ruble	44.8186
	Saudi Arabia - Riyals	5.7285
	Singapore - Dollars	2.1527
	South Africa - Rands	11.6922
	South Korea - Won	1795.055
	Sweden - Kroner	11.0934
	Switzerland - Francs	1.6234
	Thailand - Bahts	50.3688
	Turkey - New Lira	2.3208
	United Arab Emirates - Dirham	5.7998
	USA - Dollars	1.6148

European Euro: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

Remember the rate you will actually get could change as trading rates vary throughout the day.

Tourist Exchange Rates

If you are travelling abroad this year and looking to buy foreign currency for wherever you plan to go, you'll no doubt be checking out foreign currency tourist rates. But what do all these tables of tourist currency exchange rates mean and how do you know your getting the best tourist currency rates for your hard earned cash?

The foreign exchange market is arguably the largest market in the world mainly because unlike many other financial markets the whole world is its trading ground. It operates 24 hours a day except on weekends to make up for time zones and means that it trades trillions of US dollars every day.

Tourist currency exchange rates are based on the manipulation of two variables:

1. Spot Exchange Rate - This is the current market price of the actual physical commodity. Put into simple terms, it means that on the day you physically buy your currency this is what it is worth as long as it is delivered that day and paid for by cash. The opposite to this rate is the Forward Exchange Rate which refers to an exchange rate that is quoted and traded today but delivery and payment on a specific future date.
   
   
2. Commission - this is charged per transaction either by a percentage of the transaction or a fixed fee or both.

Currency providers will make profit on currency tourist exchange rate by buying currency for a lesser price that what they are selling it for. For example if the provider is selling euros £1 €1.15 and they are buying for £1 €1 then the provider has made €0.15 profit on each £1. Making it a very lucrative buiness

BEWARE:

• Some banks will charge a handling fees or delivery charges on currency tourist rates if you order below a certain amount so be sure to check exactly what fees you are being charged.
• Watch out for Commission free offers as often they will merely include this within their Commission calculation and no real saving is made.
• Ultimately, always shop around for the best tourist currency rates in the market today.