Brexit Fears Push Sterling Values Down

(The pound still buys more than a year ago in Norway, above, just)

The pounds has dropped in value against leading ski currencies over the past month due to 'Brexit' fears, according to global currency business Centtrip.

The company says that, compared to values a year ago, the pound is now only up in value, by 3.1%, against the Norwegian Kronor. This is different to the position a few months ago when the pound was up against most 'ski currencies' except the US dollar.

Sterling has fallen in value by between 0.8% and 10.1% against nine popular 'ski currencies' according to Centtrip.

The biggest drop (based on the exchange rate on 25th February 2015 against the rate on 25th February 2016) is against the US Dollar whilst the Canadian dollar exchange is only down 0.8%.

The pound is down against the Euro by 7.2% and the Swiss Franc by 6.2%. It is also down again Eastern European currencies including the Bulgarian Lev (7.3%), Romanian Leu (6.2%) and Polish Zloty (2.5%).

"The current uncertainty around whether the UK will stay in or leave the EU is leading to increased volatility around Sterling, and those Brits going skiing or snowboarding now are likely to have less spending power than they did a year ago," said Tony North, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Centtrip who offer a multi-currency prepaid MasterCard which the company says is a cheaper way to take money abroad than other methods.

Tut Tut admin. That reads very much like an advert for Centtrip and tells us nothing we didn't already know.

Looks to me like a good reason to go with Club Med. Again.

Hmm, given that I do a budget every year (in actuality every trip), I have a long term history of exchange rates and direct costs.
There are outcome variations.
T/O costs are mainly influenced by previous year exchange rates, when they make their booking commitments.
Hotel/airlines/local operators can read the signs and take remedial actions.
Will skiers be scared off by this currency movement? Possibly some will.
There is a longer term upside. In every adverse financial situation there is a corporate learning process, leading to longer term lowering of costs.

Just as a leveling issue on costs, my first Austrian 2 week accommodation cost per night was £0.00, my next season cost was £0.33 per night, b&b.

As in last season, next season I expect to pay less than €30/night b&b.

A friend of mine works in the travel industry, and according to him the prices in the TO brochures are based on the rate they agree and the currency exchange rate at that time, which is usually roughly 3 years previous....hence why brochure prices rocketed recently when costs were agreed at the time the euro was almost at 1:1 with the £

Funny how they never went down when the £ increased - will we see a 30% price reduction in ski holiday prices in 2 years time when prices should have been negotiated at 1.3 euros to the £?

Nope. Thought not.

Not sure that's quite right. I've worked for tour operators and work in the industry now and they do not base their currency purchases on 3 years previously. No one sells holidays that far in advance. Even Crystal have only just brought out their brochure for 2016/17 now - a max of 1 year in advance.

Now many companies don't even produce brochures at all, pricing can be more fluid, but most companies still have to make a decision when to purchase their currency and at what price. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Most chalet companies and tour operators in ski will tell you that it's a tough business because ultimately how well you do is due to two factors out of your control: the snow conditions and the exchange rate...

Who mentioned brochures? They only come out the they set a pricing structure, but the properties (I am told) are booked and confirmed 2-3 years previous, and that dictates the cost they have to sell at. My info may be incorrect, but thats what I was told by him.

It is only the accommodation element that is preset a year ahead, and as we see every season, even that element is strongly fluid.

Airfares are pre and block booked, but remain elastic when there are fuel cost reductions. Transfer costs are much more competitive than they used to be, lowering fuel cost and the availability of eastern european drivers being influences.

Within Tos, there has been strong cost reductions. One of the above posters made a statement a few years back that Thomas Cook was in financial trouble, and suggested it had a limited future. I looked at the accounts, and it seemed obvious to me that management change was required at the top level, and that is what I suggested on J2ski. A few months later Harriet Green was appointed as CEO. Within a short period of time, the company made a significant financial turnaround. When she then left,the share values tumbled.

Inghams used to be the market leader in quality. A change in CEO meant that the company aimed downmarket, attempting to gain market share. They laid off some really high performing individuals. This turned out to be wholly misguided, as Crystals, who targeted improving customer care, continued to improve it's care performance. Regrettably, from personal experience, that care level appears to have reversed.

The point of going through this diatribe is that company performance has a strong influence on holiday costs.

Away from TOs, in seasons where holiday costs go awol, consumers switch to DIY, and costs are challenged.

Moving back towards the original premise, no, I do not believe that Brexit will have any significant effect, unless it is a positive one.

I worked, for many years as a director of a Scottish engineering company, responsible for generating new business, (and as a result, hundreds of jobs). For the first few years, we were outside the Euro. Nevertheless, we generated a lot of pre-euro business, which continued inside the Euro.

I have reflected since then, that my co-directors seemed not to notice that many of my contacts were based in Austria and Switzerland.... They even included one company based in Keystone, Colorado. Whoops, sorry, I mean central Denver....