Tourist Currency Rates (Tuesday 9th February 2010)

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	1.7266
	Bahrain - Dinar	0.5531
	Barbados - Dollar	2.835
	Bermuda - Dollars	1.4636
	Brazil - Real	2.6382
	Bulgaria - Leva	2.0801
	Canada - Dollars	1.6193
	China - Yuan Renminbi	9.9912
	Croatia - Kuna	7.7257
	Czech - Koruny	27.6786
	Denmark - Kroner	8.1566
	Dominican - Pesos	53.1
	Egypt - Pounds	7.8366
	Euro	1.1053
	Gambia Dalasi	37.0185
	Hong Kong - Dollars	11.6775
	Hungary - Forint	283.0391
	Indonesia - Rupiah	13127.5
	Israel - Shekels	5.4402
	Jamaica - Dollar	130.752
	Japan - Yens	134.299
	Jordan - Dinar	1.031
	Kenya - Shilling	111.7306
	Malaysia - Ringgit	5.0662
	Mexico - Pesos	19.2187
	New Zealand - Dollars	2.1956
	Norway - Kroner	8.8776
	Philippines - Pesos	64.1305
	Poland - Zloty	4.3324
	Russia - Ruble	44.3199
	Saudi Arabia - Riyals	5.6479
	Singapore - Dollars	2.1251
	South Africa - Rands	11.4824
	South Korea - Won	1681.3725
	Sweden - Kroner	11.0044
	Switzerland - Francs	1.6064
	Thailand - Bahts	48.4972
	Turkey - New Lira	2.2616
	United Arab Emirates - Dirham	5.528
	USA - Dollars	1.5164

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.