REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Friday, March 16, 2001

AUSTRALIANS changed their holiday plans and were not overseas, according to travel agents who claimed the industry had not been as quiet since the 1991 Gulf War.

With the dollar at 49.44 US cents on London markets travel agents said many people were choosing to forfeit bookings and lose deposits rather than travel overseas.

A Traveland spokeswoman said that, in 30 years, she had never seen the dollar so low, nor experienced a time when people simply could not afford overseas travel.

“I haven’t seen anything like this since the Gulf War when people were afraid to travel because they feared they might be killed,” she said.

“This is phenomenal ... no one can afford to travel.”

But it was not all bad news. There were still some financially viable destinations for Australians.

The spokeswoman said Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Fiji and New Zealand were all good holiday spots that still offered reasonable exchange rates.

She said that at least Aussies heading overseas would not lose money.

As the Aussie dollar plunged, some Gold Coast exporters were missing out by not being paid in US dollars. But there was hope for the economy amid the gloom.

Several Gold Coast export companies were paid not in US dollars but in Australian dollars, or in euros or German marks.