Virgin Australia Velocity survey shows a third of Australians only take cash overseas

AUSTRALIANS may consider themselves cautious travellers but a third only take cash when they go overseas, new research reveals.

Aussies taking financial risks overseas

A THIRD of Australians take cash when they travel overseas with no back up if it gets stolen, new research has found.

Most people are put off taking credit cards overseas because of currency conversion rates, while traveller's cheques are all but extinct.

The survey into Australians' travel spending habits by Virgin Australia's Frequent Flyer program Velocity found only five per cent of people still use travellers cheques.

While traveller's cheques were popular in the 1980s, they have been replaced by new technology such as travel money cards where you can load your money before you go.

Velocity Frequent Flyer general manager Phil Gunter said he was surprised how many people only took cash when they travelled internationally.

"I assumed more people would now be using credit cards and debit cards," he said.

"There's pros and cons to everything.

"When traveller's cheques came out they were the primary way of taking money overseas but you had to go to your bank, order them, then go back to the bank to pick them up with your passport.

"With traveller's cheques you can determine the exchange rate and how much you want to spend before you go."

But Mr Gunter said cards were much more widely accepted now, but some cards can be expensive to use overseas thanks to hidden fees and charges.

"With cash if you're going on a significant trip you have to carry a significant amount of cash, you need to carry it on you and if it gets stolen it's gone," he said.

Virgin will soon launch a new frequent flyer membership card called Global Wallet which doubles as a travel money card when you flip it over to the other side.

The card is being launched in partnership with Visa and can be used anywhere Visa is accepted.

Mr Gunter said travellers can lock in exchange rates before they go away and earn frequent flyer points when they buy products in Australia and overseas.

The card has no sign-up or annual fees but information about other fees won't be revealed until the card is launched.

The survey of more than 1,200 Australians also found The Eiffel Tower was the cultural landmark Australians would most like to visit.

As part of the launch, Virgin has brought six-time Guinness World Record-holding card stacker Bryan Berg to Australia to build a 4m high replica of the Eiffel Tower in Westfield in Sydney's CBD.

Berg started stacking the tower on Monday and is expected to take more than 15 days to finish.

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