Falling!!! Help!!!

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The A$ makes gains for 2-3 days and everyone is positive about the recovery and then in one day wipes those gains and the fear comes back again. One of the so-called experts recently mentioned that the Australian dollar will trade between US55c and US62c for the next 18 months.

I can't see this happening and at the rate it is dropping now it is possible it will drop well below US50c. I never thought I would see that day again but it is now a very realistic possibility. And travellers are one of the hardest hit when the dollar slides this way.

Not happy at all and already the next trip at Christmas is looking like costing at least A$1,000 more than previously budgeted.
 
Meanwhile the JPY exchange rate heads upwards to infinity.

Out of all this economic shenanigans, I would say GenY is in for a rude shock.
 
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Mal said:
1 AUD = 58.3907 JPY (According to xe).

Ouch. Glad I've got no Japanese travel planned!
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I'm in trouble. I have a trip to Hawaii in four weeks and all my hotel bookings are up for re-evaluation. I think I will have to find some cheapie on hotwire.com or priceline.com :(

And unless the AUD picks up significantly against the JPY and USD within the next six months, I will be having serious dilemmas with travel to Japan & the USA :( in April 09.
 
I have the option of purchasing some US forex for ~65c today before the place involved updates their rates for tomorrow.

Other places have correctly updated their rates.

As I'm leaving for the US in 6 days, need to pretty quickly decide what to do about cash over there....
 
All but one of the "interesting" routings I've been investigating for travel next year were priced in USD$.... so as you can imagine the actual costs there have skyrocketed...

As a result - and with a possibly irrational fear of local increases - I rushed in yesterday and bought the one AUD$ priced itinerary I had found!

Actually very happy with that purchase... but there is still travel to be purchased ex-USA and internally there.... so back to the "buy now or wait" game anyway..:confused::confused:

Just like everyone else!!!!;)

I seem to recall travelling to the USA when the $ was at 50 cents (or less? 1999ish ??)

Don't really want to do that again.....
 
Mal said:
I have the option of purchasing some US forex for ~65c today before the place involved updates their rates for tomorrow.
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Well bit the bullet and ordered ... Got a rate slightly better than 65c. Hurts though when I actually saw the conversion between $US and $A on the amount I wanted. Gonna be an expensive trip this time!
 
This is getting ridiculous...go away for the W/E without internet access, and now the AUD is down another 4-5c to the USD:confused::shock::evil:. The Singapore Govt, I'm told, is secretly doing things behind the scenes to sure up the Sin$ against the USD. What is our Govt (actually, the Reservee Bank) doing? No, it's a free market so it will let market forces decide!! Where are all those exporters that scream every time the AUD goes up a little bit against the USD? All my overseas travel next yaer will have to be reevaluated if this madness continues.

Would you believe that when I was in Bali 2 weeks ago, a bottle of Sprite costs the equivalent as that in Sydney? Well I suspect it is now cheaper in Sydney!!
 
What actually causes the AUD value to drop? Why for instance are other currencies not nose diving?
 
kpc said:
Where are all those exporters that scream every time the AUD goes up a little bit against the USD? All my overseas travel next yaer will have to be reevaluated if this madness continues.
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I am not that concerned about exporters. What worries now the most is I will not be able to afford overpriced imports and overseas holidays.

I cannot see how SE Asian tourism is going to cope unless airfares and accommodation costs are remarkably reduced to make up for the huge falll in the A$....
 
I wouldn't panic yet about the falling exchange rate. Sure it makes anything bought in just about any other currency more expensive but with the economic crisis comes weakening demand. This means two things airfares may come done (either that or supply may be cut), and secondly hotel pricing may also come down. Already I've heard anecdotal evidence that hotels in NYC are coming down in price (but probably not the 35% or so the AUD has decreased).

The other options is to just take your overseas holidays in Brazil, Korea, Iceland, Chile, Botswana, Namibia or South Africa - we're tracking about where we were twelve months ago for most of these or even gained a little bit in some instances. Maybe not Brazil as I bet all accomodation there is quoted in USD.

Oh and one side product of the falling ER is that it makes up for falling commodity prices so some of our mines that would probably be hitting the wall right now can still make some money because of the fall in ER.
 
Rizzamabob said:
What actually causes the AUD value to drop? Why for instance are other currencies not nose diving?
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There is a large amount of US and Japanese investment in Australia, and that investment money is flying back home. Commodity prices are down, so not much all round going for the aussie.
 
dajop said:
I wouldn't panic yet about the falling exchange rate. Sure it makes anything bought in just about any other currency more expensive but with the economic crisis comes weakening demand.
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Whilst I am not in a mad panic, I am worse off for my coughet accomodation over Christmas. It was $2600 for the week and with the current exhcnage rate it is more like $3600.... so about $1k more.
 
I feel your pain ANstar I have just moved to bangkok to live for a while because I thought things would be cheaper and I could save a bit of money. Well whadda know a week before I come the dollar drops! Now everything is about 25% more expensive, what luck!
 
I am leaving fro a 3 week jaunt around the USA in 2 weeks. Luckely accom was pre-paid when the ER was .80+, however i put off buying currency to see if the $ bounced back a bit. How i am kicking my self now! If it gets back to .70 in 2 weeks i will be v happy indeed.
 
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