In the past week the US dollar has weakened significantly. The dollar that bought 34 Thai baht a week ago now buys 31.5. And the dollar that bought 130 Sri Lanka rupees a week ago now buys 110.

Ouch...! thats getting really painful.

I agree that it is effect to inbound to Thailand but Thai people can enjoy during this time for outbound. But for the people coming from UK or Europe is not much effect.

Hi

And it works the other way around too. My wife and I are going to NYC in the end of November and we are very happy to see the dollar go lower When we went to Florida a few years back 1 $ was 8.4 kroner...now it is 5.3 kroner so it is quite a dramatic change.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

The only way I can deal with the fall is to keep tell myself that for the first 10 years I went to thailand the baht was at 25-27 so I'm choosing to say it's "normal".;-)
Fortunately my hotels all confirmed prices in US dollars months ago so that will stay the same. It will definitely affect the cost ofhaving clothes made but it will still be cheaper than in the US and I don't shop for anything else any longer thankfully.

Just a few short months and it will be one Baht to the dollar. At least we won't be in a recession according to our leaders.

For Australians Thailand is a good deal at the moment with close to B 30 to the AUD.

I think Europe though will be even more expensive than it already is.

For us Canadians, it has never been better..Everyone is going to the U.S. to do their Xmas shopping and the Canadian dollar is stronger than it's been in years and years...

Terrible for the US traveler but actually great for the US economy.

Bulky trade deficits are falling as more people worldwide can now afford and are buying US products. Which is boosting production in the US

More people are traveling to the US from foreign countries as it is now cheaper and doing a lot of Xmas and other shopping and spending in record numbers because of the bargains to be found. That can only be good for the economy.

It also means less US travelers to other countries so the impact, though not yet felt on some economies, will be felt shortly.

Already some Euro countries are feeling the impact of decreasing tourism revenue.

Kathie:

According to Bangkok Bank the current (as of Nov 9th) telex transfer rate is 33.8 baht to the USD. The TT rate is typically used for wire transfers and ATM withdrawals. With the BOT intervening (finally) in the forex market, I do not see the baht dipping to 31.5 anytime soon. The offshore market of course is trading at 31.5 and has been for quite a while.

The dollar would have to drop nearly 10 percent more to get to 31.5 - something that would take quite a few months to occur.

Hope you're enjoying your travels....BTW what are your current exchange rates at ATMs in Thailand and what bank have you switched to?

Gpanda - our leaders, at least Federal Reserve Board Chairman Bernanke ARE predicting a recession - the first one since "W" inherited one from Clinton. Admittedly this was after a long period of prosperity in this country. Economists largely credit the current recovery to the Bush tax cuts and yes, economic recoveries never extend to the entire populace. That's just the way it is - its not up to the government to solve every hardship - even France is now learning that lesson.

HT - the weakening of the dollar, although good for big companies that export a lot and for tourist oriented states like Hawaii, it is not necessarily good for small businesses which are the mainstay of the US economy. I am very concerned about not only the weakening of the dollar but higher fuel prices and other countries demands to price things in currencies such as the Euro.

I keep checking the dollar vs euro and Swiss franc rates as I'm headed across the pond in a little over two weeks. Not a pretty picture... but on the other hand, our friends in Germany, Italy and Switzerland are "buying back" things that we've bought over there, when the dollar was stronger! It's six of this, and half dozen of that... Our small business is doing pretty good right now.

I won't let currency rates keep my from traveling!

Carol

Craig- the Conservative Golden Rule - there is nothing in human history that cannot be blamed on the Clinton admin - no matter how silly or inap'riate. Why did Bush stop publishing the G3 of how many dollars he has printed? Why after he did that did Bernake & the Treas hd have to fly to China & crawl in front of Chinese leaders trying to explain why the u.s. was printing $ as fast as modern presses could print - $41 Billion in this month so far. No pres. has ever, ever printed dollars at the rate of the Bush Admin & no pres have ever spent at the current rate, created debt and bal of pymts at the current diasatr's rate & YOU speak of Bill Clinton - let's see now, what about that SURPLUS the end of his term? Plenty of the blame for the econ meltdown right now belongs on the doorstep of Rep. greed and avarice.

As was said in the other post, don't feed the trolls!

I don't care who you liked as president, I am just happy my family lives here in the US, the best country in the world, imho.

It should definitely help our horrid trade deficit and may keep our out of control consumerism in check (yea right)...

But it is crappy for us travelers

Oh well, I guess I just have to earn and save more

There are still great bargains out there in the world for us.

But yea... places like London and western europe are nearly off limits for me.

i like andys prediction. no need for my cheat sheet(in more ways than one.)

btw, i got 33.85b to 1u$..

I got 33.2/USD a few days ago in BKK.

The currency exchange rates I always use are at www.xe.com And they showed that substabtial drop that I referred to in my original post.

When I made the original post, the rates were as stated, and I just checked again and the were about the same... 31.5 baht to the dollar 110.6 Sri Lankan rupees to the dollar.

While we were in Bangkok we received 33.5 - 34 baht to the dollar at ATMs and on our charge cards. We'll be back in Thailand in a week or so and will report exchnage rates then.

mlb, I'd be interested in whether Bangkok Bank is still showing 33.5 to the dollar.

32.41 baht per dollar at Bangkok Bank on Friday. http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok+B...es/default.htm

xe.com shows offshore exchange rates, which are poor compared to onshore exchange rates...Thailand operates with two exchange rates these days.