EU vote is pushing up cost of holidays

HOLIDAYMAKERS may have to fork out extra to visit Europe this summer after the pound slumped to its lowest level against the euro in more than a year.

Currently, £1 buys you around €1.27, down from €1.42 at the end of last year.

The weaker pound is likely to hit holidaymakers twofold: they won’t be able to buy as much spending money and the conversion rate will push up holiday prices.

There are fears that the pound could fall even further in the run‑ up to the EU referendum on June 23 this year.

In the months prior to the Scottish referendum in 2014, sterling fell by around 4 pc against the euro, which meant £1,000 worth of euros cost holidaymakers an extra £40.

Sterling has also fallen against the U.S. dollar. One pound now buys $1.40, compared with $1.71 two years ago.

According to FairFX, the pound has fallen against the dollar by around 10 pc a year for the past five years.

That means that every £1,000 you convert to dollars costs you around £100 more than it did in 2011.

But in destinations further off the beaten track, the value of the pound is soaring.

Sterling has risen 175 pc against the Argentinian peso over the past three years.

If you convert £1,000 into pesos today, you get an extra £800 worth of currency compared with 2013.

In Norway you can get 45 pc more for your money at the moment compared with 2013, while the pound has risen 28 pc against the Canadian dollar in that time.