British tourists watch pennies as dollar surges
TRAVELLERS CURB SPENDING AS US HOLIDAY BECOMES EXPENSIVE
VISITORS from the UK are among tourists watching helplessly as the US dollar continues its meteoric rise against the British pound.
The sterling/dollar exchange rate – which slumped to record lows in recent weeks – has reduced the affordability of pricey attractions, such as the Golden Gate City, forcing some to economise on holiday luxuries.
“The exchange rate has been the biggest topic of conversation since we got here,” said Jeff Skipper, 50, an electrician from the UK.
“Everything is pretty expensive for us,” said his wife Valerie, a 47-year old university administrator. “We’ve been buying food from grocery stores rather than having sit-down meals because when you change it to the British amount, it doesn’t seem worth it. It’s really a lot of money.”
The pair are among droves of visitors to the United States feeling the pinch of the mighty greenback, which scaled two-decade highs last month driven partly by Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
For British tourists in the United States, the pain of the rampant dollar has been amplified by the collapse of the pound, which entered a near freefall in September after the British government announced unfunded tax cuts that sent investors fleeing.
“Now it’s one dollar to the pound… It’s really hit us,” said Colin Taylor, a retired telecoms engineer from the UK, who was also visiting San Francisco with his wife last month.
“We have breakfast and it’s cost us 50 quid, 50 pounds, you know. And if this were at home, it would be 20 or 25 pounds. So it’s a big, big jump for us.”
Still, with Covid-19 travel restrictions lifted, international inbound US leisure travel spending – adjusted for inflation – is forecast to reach $87 billion (£78.75bn) this year compared with $33bn in 2020 and 2021, and $145bn in 2019, the US Travel Association
said in June. And some tourists say they will not let the dollar’s strength spoil their fun. “I have to enjoy New York,” said Gilles Nolorgues, 48, an app designer from Paris.
For travellers outside the US with dollars, the spending is easy. With the dollar and the euro reaching parity for the first time in 20 years in July, American tourists have been splurging on luxury goods in Paris as well as enjoying cheaper treats in London’s West End, one report said.
Americans are spending 11 per cent more on domestic and overseas travel in 2022 compared with 2019, a consumer survey data gathered by the American Society of Travel Advisors said. “It feels like we’re spending Monopoly money,” said Ike Armstrong, 26, from California, speaking near Trafalgar Square in London.