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18 July 2008
First Rate reveals Italy and Greece as best value destinations for family holidays
Italy and Greece are set to offer best value to UK families looking to combine some summer sun with sightseeing trips according to First Rate Exchange Services.
Free entry offers to children at leading tourist attractions puts Italy and Greece on top of savvy travellers family-friendly league.1 Holidaymakers wanting to keep down the costs of summer travel will find visits to Italy’s most popular tourist attractions, led by Pompeii and Rome’s Coliseum, are free for children – so a family of four can enjoy a sightseeing day out for under £20 (£18.58 for two adults and two children).
The same goes for Greece, where the Acropolis, Knossos and Mount Olympus are free for under-19s. Spain also rates highly with most of its heritage attractions either free or low priced for younger children.
However, families should take care to research costs in France more carefully, where many of the country’s attractions levy charges for children, making a day out much more expensive. A visit to the Eiffel Tower, for example, will set a family of four back £31.58 – a whopping 70 per cent more than a day at Pompeii.
Commenting on research undertaken by the Post Office®, Gordon Gourlay, Managing Director, First Rate Exchange Services, said: “To date foreign currency retailers tell us they have seen no slow down in currency sales, however the credit crunch and implementation of fuel surcharges may drive UK families to seek out destinations which help their holiday cash go further.
“Parents seeking more than just sunshine and beaches will be checking out which countries offer the best deals and kids go free packages for top tourist attractions and sightseeing trips. They’ll also be looking for foreign exchange retailers which offer them the best deals on their travel money to ensure maximum spending power. It’s therefore more important than ever that retailers ensure their currency offer remains competitive by offering good value rates at convenient locations."
First Rate provides a wide range of innovative white labelled foreign exchange services to businesses large and small across the UK. It is the UK’s leading provider of foreign exchange services. First Rate’s customers include the Post Office®, supplying its 13,000 branches with their market leading foreign currency offer.
The Post Office® Sightseeing on a Shoestring survey investigated the cost of family days out in 10 leading destinations featured in its recent Holiday Costs Barometer. The best value long haul holiday destinations in that survey – Thailand and South Africa – also proved cheapest for family sightseeing while Turkey was least expensive in Europe.
Looking long haul Bangkok’s Grand Palace was the lowest priced of the top tourist attractions, while a cable car trip up Cape Town’s Table Mountain during the summer is great value for families as the normal child price is waived for the South African winter months.
Florida’s most popular attraction – Walt Disney World® – was the most expensive in the survey, weighing in at a hefty £148.72 for a family visit to the Magic Kingdom. A cheaper option, the Post Office® found, would be a thrilling ride through the alligator-infested waters of the Everglades – priced at just £36.64, less than one quarter the cost.
Post Office® Travel Services not only looked at the costs of the best known attractions, but also considered cheaper alternatives and found free sights for families on a budget. These include one of France’s top draws, Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, and the Pantheon in Rome, just rated top free attraction in Europe by TripAdvisor site visitors.
Families on a tight budget can save money by picking up commission-free currency at a Post Office® bureau de change, rather than leaving it to the last minute and paying more at an airport or overseas ATM. Another useful budgeting tool is the Post Office® Travel Money Card, which can be loaded up with cash and used to control spending. As cash can be added in small amounts rather than as a lump sum, the card can be used to save holiday spending money monthly in advance.
Note to Editors:
1 The Post Office® Sightseeing on a Shoestring survey investigated the cost of family days out in July and August 2008 at tourist attractions in 10 holiday destinations which feature in the Post Office® Holiday Costs Barometer. Prices are based on a family of two adults and two children aged under ten years, and were sourced from tourist offices, official tourist and attraction websites or from the attractions themselves. Family ticket and special summer offers are used wherever available.
Post Office® Sightseeing on a Shoestring:
| Country | Best known sight | Good value alternative | Free Sightseeing on a Shoestring | |
| 1 | Thailand | Grand Palace, Bangkok £16.46 |
Wat Pho, Temple of the Reclining Buddha, Bangkok
£3.29 |
Golden Mount* Bangkok FREE |
| 2 | Turkey | Ephesus £17.72 |
Castle of St Peter, Bodrum £17.72 |
Ortakent heritage village FREE |
| 3 | South Africa | Table Mountain cable car,Cape Town £18.33 |
Boulder Bay penguin colony, Cape Town £4.23 |
Victoria & Albert Waterfront, Cape Town FREE |
| 4 | Italy | Pompeii £18.58 |
Coliseum, Roman Forum & Palatine, Rome £18.58 |
Pantheon, Rome FREE |
| 5 | Greece | Acropolis, Athens £20.27 |
Knossos, Crete £10.13 |
Chania Old Town, Crete FREE |
| 6 | Spain | Alhambra, Granada £20.27 |
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona £16.89 |
Ronda, Andalucía FREE |
| 7 | Croatia | Dubrovnik city walls £24.13 |
Franciscan Monastery, Dubrovnik £7.24 |
Ruins of Diocletian’s Palace, Split FREE |
| 8 | France | Eiffel Tower, Paris £31.58 |
Bayeux Tapestry £13.00 |
Mont Saint Michel FREE |
| 9 | Egypt | The Pyramids: Giza Plateau & the Great Pyramid,
Cairo £64.89 |
Valley of the Kings & Tomb of Tutankhamun,
Luxor £43.26 |
Hanging Church, Cairo FREE |
| 10 | USA (Florida) | Walt Disney World®: Magic Kingdom, Orlando £148.72 |
Everglades Alligator Tour £36.64 |
Fort Christmas Historical Museum &
Park FREE |
Source: Post Office®. Data relates to exchange rates on 9 July 2008.
* Entry to the summit of the Golden Mount and Wat Saket temple costs 66p for four people.
About First Rate Foreign Exchange Services:
First Rate is the UK’s leading provider of foreign currency services supplying over 13,000 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 travellers cheques and currency for foreign exchange 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.