Nearly four in ten people buy tacky souvenirs with £65 being the national average spent in departure lounges.
Northerners are slightly more cautious with their cash, spending an average of £44.87.
Acording to research by Abbey, foreign currency is `dumped' in a variety of ways.
Almost six in ten travellers buy pricey refreshments. A further 35 per cent buy gifts, 31 per cent splash out on fragrances, 14 per cent buy souvenirs and 13 per cent buy books and magazines.
Men spend on average £10 more than women and holidaymakers aged between 25 and 34 spend the most.
Steve Shore, of Abbey, said: "It's amazing how much people waste. Converting the money back into sterling is far more cost effective than splurging it on things you don't need."
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Steven (23/10/2007 at 20:50)
The Cocteau Twins (23/10/2007 at 23:19)
that's a terrible accusation, there is nothing wrong with my donkey dressed in a dinner suit, playing an accordian that I bought in a designer retail outlet in Benidorm, it sits proudly in my halogen spotlit glass cabinet in my dining room