Following recent news that a couple had their dream holiday ruined when £2,000 of cash was stolen from their hotel safe, travel money provider ICE – International Currency Exchange is suggesting travellers consider a prepaid currency card as an alternative to carrying large amounts of cash on holiday.

ICE is highlighting that while most travel insurance policies have a limit of £1,500 for personal belongings, often the value of cash covered by a policy is between £250 and £500.

Koko Sarkari, chief operating officer of ICE said: “There is now a good choice of prepaid currency cards on the market with varying charges for their use so it’s worth taking time to shop around. Look for added extras, for example. The ICE Travellers Cashcard is the only prepaid currency card to offer a 1.5 per cent cashback on qualifying purchases. It also comes with a free back up card so that if the first is lost or stolen, the second can be activated for use with little disruption to the holiday.

“We suggest that travellers take enough local currency to pay for drinks, ice lollies, tips, taxis and so on, then consider putting the rest of their holiday spending money on a pin-protected prepaid currency card. Think about whether you are going to be visiting markets etc where cash might be needed to help calculate how much to take. By taking a mixture of payment methods you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket.”

A PIN protected prepaid currency card allows cardholders to travel light along with some coins and notes for tips and small transactions. It may help protect against fraud, but also helps holidaymakers budget as you can only spend what’s on the card. An additional benefit of a prepaid currency card is that the rate of exchange will stay fixed at the time you loaded money to the card.