Australian travellers are sitting on over $800 million in foreign currency, according to the MasterCard Money Management Index.
MasterCard has revealed that 45 per cent of Australians travellers have an average of $221 in foreign currency sitting at home from overseas visits in the last 12 months alone.
The findings also reveal that the use of travel cards are on the rise, which would bring down the amount of foreign currency going without being spent.
“MasterCard has seen a 70% growth in prepaid cards since the beginning of 2013,” said Andrew Cartwright, MasterCard Australia Country Manager and SVP.
“In fact, 1 out of every 5 dollars Australians spend overseas on their MasterCard cards is now on a prepaid travel card.”
Cartwright said the rise in travel cards is also attributed to the safety individuals feel by not carrying around large amounts of cash when overseas and the convenience of accessing funds online.
The recent dip in the Australian dollar is also considered a factor in the rise of travel card usage. More travellers are expected to take on the pre-paid option as the Australian dollar dips. The Australian dollar is standing at around 87c against the US dollar, an 8c drop since July.
