How to stretch your travel dollars

With the low-flying loonie trading around 75 cents U.S., Canadian travellers are looking for ways to get away without breaking the bank.

The market experienced a late surge Monday, but it’s not expected to get much higher. Marvin Ryder from the DeGroote School of Business points the finger at oil prices.

“Early November back when it was at it’s peak, oil was trading at nearly $70 a barrel. Today it’s trying to get to $50 a barrel and because Canada’s economy is so tied to oil we actually see it as a petrol currency, so goes oil so goes the Canadian dollar.”

Since predicting the markets is tough, Barry Choi, a finance and travel expert, suggests planning your vacation ahead of time to save cash and when skimming through discounts search engines like Kayak and Hotwire. Choi also suggests keeping an open availability to pounce on a deal.

“If you can travel from Tuesday to Thursday you can save a little bit, you can also think about the time of day if you can fly mid-afternoon it’s a lot cheaper than flying overnight or even early in the morning. It’s also the busy season for the Caribbean but if you want to go to Europe you may find better prices.”

Another option to evade the exchange rate altogether is to explore our own country.