In Canada, we tend to measure the economics of the entire world by how the Canadian Dollar is doing compared to the United States greenback. Canada, like Russia, being a country that relies on oil for much of its earnings, has been hit hard by crude’s price plummet over the past year. Unlike Russia, Canada’s currency has not completely crashed and is even doing quite well compared to other parts of the world.

I am not anywhere close to being an economist. I have very little idea how and why currencies rise and fall in value. It’s a mystery to me why oil companies and the Canadian government tell us that gas prices are high because the dollar is low against the USD, then turn around and tell us gas prices are high because the dollar is high against the USD.

I do know that when the CAD is high against any other world currency, you need to take advantage of it because in our bust and boom resource based economy, things can turn on a dime (is that a pun?).

Where should Canadians travel based solely on currency rates?

Of course, there are many other factors that dictate the cost of travel other than currency exchange. International flights are not going to be affected much but flights within a certain country most likely will be. Cost of living and inflation in some countries can travel upward faster than the difference in currency value. Then, there’s countries like England and much of Western Europe where even at a 50% discount are still damn expensive…

What we did is take the countries that the Canadian government says their people travel to the most, add some other big destinations and we came up with 16 world currencies to compare with the Loony. We then compared the current rates, the five year average, five year high and five year low. We also added in the rates from March, 2000 for fun. The rates were taken from March 15, 2015 and were pulled from Oanda.com. The raw chart can be found at the bottom of the article.

CAD at a 5 year low…

With a Canadian Dollar worth about 78 cents in American money right now, we all know that that currency is easily at a five year low, having been at par or better for quite a while. Although, 78 cents is certainly off the all-time lows from the 1990’s. Other currencies that are at a five year high against the CAD include that Chinese Yuan, Hong Kong Dollar and the British Pound. Like the USD, the CAD is still higher against the GBP and HKD than it was in March, 2000.

CAD at a 5 year high…

Right now, the currency market couldn’t be better for Canadians travelling to the South American countries of Brazil and Colombia. If you were planning a trip up the Amazon, now is the time to do it. Both the Brazilian Real and the Colombian Peso are at five year lows against the CAD. Of course, you most likely have to pay for your flight to these destinations in USD but once you’re there…

Above average value…

There is a world out there waiting for you with a currency that is valued at below the five year average against the Canadian Dollar. Along with the BRL and COP, the Argentine Peso is another South American currency that the CAD is strong against. However, this is not a South American trend with much of the rest of the continent at or near five year highs.

The pound might be valued higher against the dollar but the CAD is above the five year average against the Euro. In fact, the Euro is nearly in line with the USD when it comes to exchanging Canadian currency.

Also above the five year average are the Russian Rouble, Australian Dollar, South African Rand and Japanese Yen. The Rouble is off the incredible lows against the CAD but the devaluation of that currency is phenominal. It dropped so fast that North American hockey players with teams in the KHL were tempting to drop it all and come home midseason as their contracts were worth a fraction of what they originally signed for.

As for the Australian Dollar, the two currencies stay pretty close together. Sometimes the AUD is higher and sometimes it’s the CAD’s turn. Besides, currency exchange is probably the lowest ranked factor when it comes to a trip down under.

Here’s the numbers. Below the chart is a quick glossary of what country belongs to what currency code.

Currency code glossary:

ARS – Argentine Peso

AUD – Australian Dollar

BRL – Brazilian Real

CNY – Chinese Yuan

COP – Colombian Peso

DOP – Dominican Republic Peso

EUR – Euro

GBP – Great Britain Pound

HKD – Hong Kong Dollar

INR – India Rupee

JMD – Jamaican Dollar

JPY – Japanese Yen

MXN – Mexican Peso

RUB – Russian Rouble

USD – United States Dollar

ZAR – South African Rand

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