Without any explanation from Sundowners Overland about how it calculated its final price for the tour, we have had to work it out ourselves.
The tour prices in US dollars and NZ dollars quoted on the website between April and June (and in the printed brochure) were consistent with the NZ dollar buying US71 cents. This was a currency level last seen in August 2008. When Matthew booked his trip in April 2009, the NZ dollar was more than 20 percent below this level.
However, during May and June when Matthew was paying for his trip, the NZ dollar recovered ground and by the end of June was only 11 percent below the August 2008 level. The surcharge seems to have missed the recovery altogether.
So a reasonable currency surcharge would seem to be closer to 11 percent rather than 20 percent. The surcharge seems higher than it needed to be to compensate for the movement in currencies.
Exchange rates are published daily, so there’s no reason why accurate prices can’t be quoted on the Sundowners Overland website.
What others do
Reporting up-to-date prices on its website, in a variety of currencies and including any currency surcharges, is how Intrepid Travel (which also offers Mongolian tours) gets around currency volatility.
As well, the company’s tour prices for Kiwi customers are based on Australian dollars, not US dollars. The Australian-NZ dollar rate is less volatile than the US-NZ dollar rate so it’s less likely currency surcharges will be applied.
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