In 2024, to find an African holiday destination that’s in the affordable league, two cities should come to mind – Cape Town in South Africa and Mombasa in Kenya. This is according to a new report released by UK’s Post Office Travel Money in its Worldwide Holiday Costs Barometer.
The report uses the strength of the pound sterling pegged against prices charged in restaurants, bars and shops in destination cities to rank how expensive or affordable a city is.
It found that usually, local prices in certain holiday destinations are up year-on-year, but once converted to the sterling, it’s cheaper for travellers, especially those from the UK.
“The 18th annual Post Office Travel Money Holiday Money Report reveals 90% of our bestselling currencies are currently weaker against sterling than a year ago. This means price falls in many of the world’s most popular destinations – especially long-haul resorts and cities,” the report said.
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In these rankings, the city of Mombasa in Kenya and South Africa’s Cape Town were found to have had prices for beer, coffee, cola, wine, water, sunscreen, insect repellant, and a three course meal (which are the eight indicators for the survey) drop and rise respectively, even though the the sterling has surged in value against the South African rand for instance.
But to rank 15 of the world’s most popular holiday destinations, Hoi An in Vietnam topped the list of affordable destinations.
“Topping the chart for the first time is Vietnam, where a 14.4 per cent price fall in Hoi An has been achieved through a combination of lower charges in restaurants and bars and a
sizeable drop in the value of the Vietnamese dong. At £51.18 for the barometer basket, Hoi An has leapfrogged last year’s leaders to rise from sixth to first place in the worldwide barometer and has done so because it is one of only eight destinations to combine a reduction in local prices with falling currency values,” the authors explained in the report.
Top 15 destinations for holiday money value in 2024
These are the 15 best-value destinations for 2024 according to the Worldwide Holiday Costs Barometer.
| Position | Destination | Total cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hoi An, Vietnam ↑ | £51.18 |
| 2 | Cape Town, South Africa ↑ | £54.35 |
| 3 | Mombasa, Kenya ↑ | £54.93 |
| 4 | Tokyo, Japan ↑ | £59.05 |
| 5 | Algarve, Portugal | £59.69 |
| 6 | Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt ↑ | £61.37 |
| 7 | Sunny Beach, Bulgaria ↓ | £62.49 |
| 8 | Kuta, Bali ↓ | £63.31 |
| 9 | Marmaris, Turkey ↓ | £66.07 |
| 10 | Paphos, Cyprus ↑ | £73.32 |
| 11 | Penang, Malaysia (new) | £74.57 |
| 12 | Phuket, Thailand ↑ | £77.77 |
| 13 | Delhi, India (new) | £77.84 |
| 14 | Costa del Sol, Spain ↓ | £81.45 |
| 15 | Montego Bay, Jamaica ↑ | £87.11 |