Beer boost for England fans

14 April 2012

Football fans following England in the Euro 2004 championships in Portugal this summer will find lager prices very much to their liking, it was revealed today.

At just 52p for a 33cl bottle (about half a pint), lager is currently cheaper in Portugal than in any other country surveyed in an American Express holiday cost of living index.

For those wanting to sober up after alcoholic excesses, coffee in Portugal is also the cheapest - at 41p for a cup of cappuccino.

But fans would do well to avoid Portugal's ultra-expensive ice cream - the dearest in the survey.

Taking statistics from 12 countries, the index looked at various items of holiday expenditure including car hire.

Overall, Spain and the USA offered the best value to UK visitors, with Thailand and South Africa also proving fairly inexpensive.

Prices varied enormously, with a six-pack of lager or beer costing 73p on average in Spain but as much as £8.32 in Ireland.

A bottle of cola was 44p in South Africa, but £2.91 in France. while an ice cream bar was only 23p in Thailand but £2.49 in Portugal.

The countries surveyed were Australia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and the US.

Brendan Walsh, American Express Foreign Exchange senior vice president, said the index provided a useful barometer of pricing overseas "because holidaymakers are on a budget and it is useful for them to know how far their spending money is likely to stretch".

He went on: "With the euro now well established across much of Europe, it has been particularly useful to compare the costs of identical items in six different countries, and this year's cost of living chart again proves that one currency does not mean one price.

"The costs vary significantly for every item that we surveyed - by £1.97 for a cup of cappuccino and £1.01 for a large bottle of supermarket mineral water, for example."

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