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Tourist Currency Rates (Saturday 4th February 2012)
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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 | Argentina - Pesos | 5.8434 |  |
 | Australia - Dollar | 1.5433 | |
 | Spain - Euro | 1.1238 | |
 | Bahamas - Dollars | 1.4758 | |
 | Bahrain - Dinar | 0.5827 | |
 | Barbados - Dollars | 2.8182 | |
 | Bermuda - Dollars | 1.3412 | |
 | Brazil - Reais | 2.3939 | |
 | British - Pounds | 1 | |
 | Bulgaria - Leva | 2.1086 | |
 | Canada - Dollars | 1.5284 | |
 | Chile - Pesos | 702.6468 | |
 | China - Yuan | 9.8443 | |
 | Colombia - Pesos | 2613.006 | |
 | Croatia - Kuna | 8.0317 | |
 | Czech Republic - Koruny | 26.3933 | |
 | Denmark - Kroner | 8.3475 | |
 | Dominican Republic - Pesos | 54.8268 | |
 | East Caribbean - Dollar | 3.7679 | |
 | Egypt - Pounds | 8.5879 | |
 | Fiji - Dollars | 2.6836 | |
 | Gambia - Dalasi | 40.5962 | |
 | Hong Kong - Dollars | 12.0347 | |
 | Hungary - Forint | 291.5693 | |
 | Indonesia - Rupiahs | 12763.638 | |
 | Israel - New Shekels | 5.4157 | |
 | Jamaica - Dollars | 128.3892 | |
 | Japan - Yen | 127.0694 | |
 | Jordan - Dinars | 1.0651 | |
 | Kenya - Shillings | 120.9533 | |
 | Kuwait - Dinar | 0.4294 | |
 | Latvia - Lati | 0.7359 | |
 | Lithuania Litai | 3.8917 | |
 | Malaysia - Ringgits | 4.6118 | |
 | Maldives - Rufiyaa | 19.1601 | |
 | Mauritius - Rupee | 43.1055 | |
 | Mexico - Pesos | 18.1795 | |
 | New Zealand - Dollars | 2.1177 | |
 | Norway - Kroner | 8.6285 | |
 | Oman - Rials | 0.5888 | |
 | Philippines - Pesos | 63.9076 | |
 | Poland - Zlotych | 4.2383 | |
 | Qatar - Riyals | 5.5848 | |
 | Romania - New Lei | 4.543 | |
 | Russia - Rubles | 42.0265 | |
 | Saudi Arabia - Riyals | 5.8403 | |
 | Singapore - Dollars | 1.9526 | |
 | South Africa - Rand | 10.5925 | |
 | South Korea - Won | 1641.308 | |
 | Sweden - Kronor | 9.8698 | |
 | Switzerland - Francs | 1.4378 | |
 | Thailand - Baht | 45.9956 | |
 | Trinidad and Tobago - Dollars | 9.388 | |
 | Turkish - New Lira | 2.4861 | |
 | United Arab Emirates - Dirhams | 5.6848 | |
 | United States - Dollars | 1.5788 | |
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:
- 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.
- 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.