Total spending on trips abroad went up by 5.4% between June and August, with long-haul destinations such as Indonesia (+24.2% year-on-year), Mexico (+26.3%), the Philippines (+23.2%) and Japan (+19.8%) among those countries with the fastest year-on-year growth in holiday spending.

The biggest risers in the short-haul market were mainly eastern European destinations, such as Latvia (+30.5%), Romania (+27.7%), Hungary (+20.7%) and the Czech Republic (+18.5%), which Visa partly puts down to the strength of the pound against the currencies of these countries.

Visa commissioned market research firm Censuswide to survey 1,000 people aged over 16 in the UK who had travelled on at least one overseas holiday during the last 12 months.

The study also showed behavioural shifts in how people have been paying for items and services with 84% of holidaymakers saying they spent more or the same on their cards in 2015 compared with previous years. Visa said this represented a “step-change” with consumers now “more comfortable” using their debit and credit cards abroad, instead of changing money before their holidays or taking out foreign currency using overseas ATMs.

Conversion shifts

The survey further found that more than a third of holidaymakers (36%) would now pay in-resort expenses using their cards during their next overseas trip.

This compared with 30% who planned to change money using a high street bureau and 17% who would withdraw cash locally. Visa said there had been a dramatic drop in the number of tourists planning to use an airport bureau to change money, which had fallen to just 2% compared to 28% in a previous survey.

This came despite 38% of people still believing that debit card charges for overseas use were higher than fees charged by airport exchange bureaus. Kevin Jenkins, Visa Europe’s managing director UK and Ireland, said: “When asked about what they’d do differently on their next trip abroad, 50% of British travellers said they would pay more with their cards or withdraw cash at their destination on their next holiday.”

Visa admitted there remained some “misconceptions” among consumers about using cards while on holiday. More than one-fifth of respondents said they worried that they would not be able to pay for normal expenses on their cards such as accommodation or in shops. British tourists also expected to have to pay for taxis and other transport with cash rather than cards.

Only 16% said they thought they would be able to pay for taxis by card, while this figure only increased to 20% for card acceptance on public transport. Despite these perceptions, Jenkins added: “It’s encouraging to see Brits starting to shake off old-fashioned habits when it comes to spending in a foreign country. “Misconceptions are breaking down as people begin to realise through experience, that card payments and ATM withdrawals abroad are not only convenient, but easily available and safe.”