Travellers are blowing their budget

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Travellers are blowing their budget

As thousands of Australians prepare to escape the winter chill with an overseas trip, a new report has found two out of every five of them will end up blowing their budget.

A lack of preparation is costing holiday makers $911 million a year, according to the CommBank Travel Money Card Report.

It found about 40 per cent of travellers spent more than they had originally planned on their last overseas trip, paying out an average of $235 each.

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Fifty-four per cent of people overspent on shopping for clothes, souvenirs and gifts while 51 per cent of people blew the budget on food and drink.

Thirty-nine of people went overboard on accommodation while 31 per cent of people coughed out more than planned for transport.

The report identified a number of reasons for the overspend, with 48 per cent of travellers saying they had little knowledge of exchange rates.

Forty per cent of people were unaware of foreign ATM charges while nearly a third of people hadn't organised their travel money the week before they left for their trip.

A third of people struggled to understand the local currency while 74 per cent of people got caught out by poor contingency planning.

Nearly three quarters of Aussies admit to not setting an overall holiday spending budget, the report said.

AAP

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