The pound has had a turbulent year to date and fell to its lowest level against the dollar in seven years yesterday as Britain’s future in the EU continues to be in doubt.

Now the post office has reported that despite being strong against three quarters of the top 40 currencies at the beginning of the year, it has reduced to 25% now.

Other currencies that the pound has seen sharp falls against include the Japanese yen, by 11.6%, the Icelandic krona, by 10.5%, the Czech koruna, by 7.8% and the UAE dirham by 7.3%.

This is not to say the pound has not risen against certain currencies, including the South African rand with growth of 26%, the Mexican peso which is up by 18%, the Malaysian ringgit by 9.1%, the Norwegian krone by 6% and the New Zealand dollar by 6%.

Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money said: “This is definitely a year when it will pay people to do their homework before booking a destination.

“With sterling’s recent fall in value against more than half of our bestselling currencies, you can’t blame them for thinking twice about where to go on holiday.

“However, canny travellers will be ‘quids in’ if they opt for destinations with weak currencies or those where local prices are low.

“Better still, if they combine both elements their holiday money will stretch further.”