Turkey top spot to get more for your Kiwi dollar

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo / Thinkstock

Turkey is the best-value destination for Kiwi holidaymakers based on currency movements during the past year, says online travel company Expedia.

Expedia said it had joined the Bank of New Zealand to produce a travellers' foreign currency ranking that compared the performance of the New Zealand dollar against the world's currencies over a 12-month period to produce a top 10 best-value destination list.

Turkey came top of the list with the dollar gaining 23 per cent against the lira during the year to November 1, followed by the South African rand and the Hungarian forint, against which it was up by 17 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.

A higher-valued dollar is worth more in foreign currency, which can increase travellers' spending power.

Expedia managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Nicolas Chu, said: "We have seen searches on our Expedia.co.nz site to value-for-money destinations such as Turkey, South Africa and Hungary double recently.

"And despite the US not being ranked in the top 10, it's still a popular travel destination for Kiwis and bookings continue to perform well."

The dollar had appreciated by 5 per cent against the euro and UK pound and by 4 per cent against the US dollar.

"The recent solid performance of the New Zealand dollar is making international destinations increasingly attractive and more affordable for Kiwis," Chu said.

Short-term New Zealand resident traveller departures were up 3 per cent for the year ended September at 2.06 million, according to Statistics New Zealand, including a 12.8 per cent rise to India to 34,005 people, and a drop of 2.2 per cent to South Africa to 14,870.

Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Mike Burrowes said the New Zealand dollar had outperformed other currencies during the past year primarily because of record high commodity prices for agricultural exports.