The figures are in and it looks like Australians are losing hundreds of dollars per holiday on foreign bank fees and changes.
Latest research released by Travel Insurance Direct (TID) found one in ten travellers waste more than $100 a trip on overseas bank fees while travelling abroad.
With Tourism Research Australia’s latest data showing that 8,125,000 travelled overseas in the last calendar year, this could equate to approximately $81,250,000 among all Australian travellers in 2014.
Ouch.
TID found the reason Aussies are stuck forking out an arm and a leg in fees is because they’re getting caught high and dry. Around 70 percent having problems accessing funds or have been charged an exorbitant fee due to a bad exchange rate.
Nearly half say they have needed to accept bad exchange rates while travelling because they had no other choice.
Another one in eight have lost cash while abroad because they’ve been victims of crime by having their wallet stolen.
There are a number of systems out there to help Aussies cut back on money losses overseas, including the latest which is TID’s personalised travel money card.
The TID Travel Money Card is a free product to all customers with no hidden fees, allows up to 10 different currencies to be loaded on and also has paypass technology, the first of it’s kind in this category.
“Having no money is a sure fire way to take the fun out of a holiday, but carrying large sums of cash is dangerous.”
Phil Sylvester, TID Travel Safety Expert
“The travel money card also has the added benefit of helping people stick to a budget.”
