British people love their overseas holidays - and many British people like being abroad so much they buy a holiday home in their favourite destination - or even move there full time.

So the current recession is hitting the British particularly hard, as their currency - sterling - has dropped in value against the Euro, making their spending money worth a lot less than a year ago - something quite a few Forex traders would have noticed too.

And there appears little chance of Britain joining the Euro with opinion polls consistently showing well over 70 per cent of the population would vote against ditching the pound.

One British company who have noticed the slide of the pound against the Euro is International Property Tribune. They deal in tax haven property but also have travel sites for Lanzarote, Tenerife, Menorca and other parts of Spain.

‘We have always listed our properties with the local currency first - normally the Euro - and then an approximate guide in sterling’, they say, but add ‘In January we removed the sterling conversions from the Euro as they were so close to being of equal value it just wasn’t worth listing the British currency seperately.’

But the move could be a temporary one - ‘If sterling picks up and moves to 1.2 Euros for a pound we’ll introduce the British prices again, but that might be a year or two away.’

On the travel side, the company say that British people are booking holidays with companies like Thomas Cook but not in the same numbers as this time last year, and estimate a drop of between 15 and 20 per cent in holiday bookings depending upon the location.

Some areas that could do better than others during 2009 might be the ones that have winter visitors as well as summer ones, with bookings made for this winter in advance of the recession making people think twice about spending money on a holiday.

A good example is Lanzarote. The island is famous with tourists for its volcanic origin. They come for the spectacular scenery and the balmy weather. Its temperature remains fairly constant year round and the island is popular in the winter with those seeking a sunshine holiday while Northern Europe shivers.

A Lanzarote winter holiday is often just as desirable as one taken in the summer. Sea temperatures reach about 75 degrees fahrenheit during the summer months and 63 degrees fahrenheit during the winter.

Lanzarote is home to more than 100,000 people and has her own international airport, with flights to Lanzarote from regional airports throughout Europe. The island relies on tourism as well as agriculture to maintain its economy. Millions of visitors each year enjoy the black sand beaches and unique experience that only Lanzarote can offer.

The wonderful Lanzarote climate throughout the year is conducive to a variety of sports activities. Take your pick of golf, diving, horseback riding, tennis and windsurfing during Lanzarote holidays in both the summer and winter.

And it’s the year round attraction of Lanzarote that could really help the island during the current recession - if the pound doesn’t pick up there isn’t a short season and the opportunity is missed like some destinations - and the more flexibility the better for British tourists while they wait for their currency to go up against the Euro this year.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Lanzarote, Spain, currencies, currency, forex, holiday, holidays, travel, vacation, vacations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.