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27 February 2008
First Rate delivers Chinese yuan on demand to UK foreign exchange retailers
- First Rate responds to Olympian growth in travel to China
- Post Office® bureaux de change launches service in 1,400 branches
First Rate Exchange Services has launched a new on demand Chinese yuan service to allow foreign currency retailers to meet the increased demand expected for the currency as the Olympic Games makes China a travel hotspot in 2008.
The Post Office® is the first provider to take advantage of the service by making the Chinese yuan instantly available in 1,400 Post Office® bureaux de change branches nationwide.
Rocketing demand for the Chinese yuan suggests that China is already making a move from a niche to a mainstream holiday destination. Over the past three years Post Office® bureaux de change across the UK have tracked a growth in sales for Chinese yuan of more than 337 per cent1. This trend tallies with the experience of tour operators, who report a quadrupling of China bookings in the same period2.
With the Beijing Olympic Games less than six months away and interest in holidays to China reaching a peak, demand for the yuan is set to grow even further during 2008. China also looks to be one of this year’s better value destinations for UK holidaymakers. According to First Rate, sterling’s drop in value of less than eight per cent against the Chinese yuan compares favourably with falls of over 13 per cent against the euro and other major currencies.
First Rate’s Chinese yuan service is just one of a wide range of white labelled foreign exchange services available to businesses large and small across the UK. Gordon Gourlay, Managing Director said: “First Rate has a strong track record of delivering innovation in the UK travel services market. We’re delighted to once be again leading the way by making Chinese yuan instantly accessible at thousands of retail outlets across the UK.”
The impact of the Olympic Games should reap tourism benefits for China for years to come. Previous Olympic Games has shown that that the event attracts many thousands of people to visit host countries, not just to attend the games themselves, but also in the run up and years which follow. For example, over eight million people visited Sydney’s Olympic Park last year, almost double the number in 2000 when the Games were staged.
Gordon continued: “The Beijing Olympics and Paralympics are set to be major events in the 2008 travel calendar. I’m sure currency retailers will welcome the move by First Rate to provide them with the facility to offer a currency which is set to be in strong demand from their customers in the coming months.”
Long haul specialist Hayes & Jarvis is already reporting record bookings for travel before and after the Olympic Games. Its business is up 40 per cent for 2008 with some shorter three-city tours of Beijing, Shanghai and Xian almost sold out in September and October, at a stage when the operator would normally expect to be only around 10 per cent sold.
Note to Editors:
1 Post Office trend data shows a growth of 337.5 per cent in sales of Chinese yuan between 2004 and 2007. The same report shows a growth of 28.7 per cent in 2007 against sales in 2006.
2 Hayes & Jarvis passenger sales data.
About First Rate Foreign Exchange Services:
First Rate is the UK’s leading provider of foreign currency services supplying over 14,000 retail outlets with a foreign currency service. It is the UK’s biggest foreign currency notes supplier and Europe’s major provider of traveller’s cheques and in the top five globally. First Rate sources currency through its associate business unit Bank of Ireland First Currency Services, one of the world’s leading wholesale currency operations.
First Rate can provide UK retailers and businesses with the following foreign currency services:
- Travel Money Online – a service enabling the ordering of foreign currency notes and traveller’s cheques securely via First Rate’s white label internet application
- Bulk provision of currency for currency retailers
- End-to-end consumer order processing – totally outsourced, white label currency solutions for phone, internet or retail outlet order placement
To find out more visit www.firstrate.co.uk.
For further information, please contact:
Four Countries Communications
Ruth Barker
Tel: 0207 749 9219
Mobile: 07814 571128
Email: ruth@fourcountries.co.uk
Bank of Ireland UK Financial Services
Sandra Grandison
Tel: 0207 634 3477
Mobile: 07912 298013
Email: sandra.grandison@boiuk.com
First Rate Exchange Services Ltd is registered in the UK and Supervised by HM Revenue & Customs for Money Service Business (MSB): License number 12133160. First Rate is a joint venture between The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland (Registered in Ireland and passported into the UK for regulatory purposes) and the Post Office® Ltd. The Bank of Ireland is authorised by the Irish Financial Regulator and the Financial Services Authority for the conduct of business in the UK. Bank of Ireland First Currency Services is a division of The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland.