£1.78bn Of Holiday Money Unspent

• News
• Published: 02 Nov 2009 in Travel and Travel Insurance

Nearly three quarters of all UK holidaymakers have come back home with a total of £1.78 billion of unspent foreign currency this year, a survey revealed

According to the survey of 2,003 British adults by Santander Cards, 71% who have taken trips abroad have brought back £61 per person.

More than six in 10 holidaymakers said they will save the money for their next trip, while 8% gave the unspent money either to charity or friends.

While 1% are waiting for favourable exchange rates to convert their money to sterling, another 3% do nothing with it, which amounts to £29.8 million going waste.

Of the 62% of Britons who had been on holiday this year, nearly half went for an overseas trip. A person on a main holiday spent £1,079 on an average, the survey found.

Callum Gibson, director of Santander Cards, said: "While it's not surprising that Britons are returning from foreign holidays with some leftover spending money, the incredible amount of unused foreign currency floating around the nation's homes is quite unexpected."