Big dollar cuts Ashes beer money

BRISBANE - Cricket's oldest international rivalry resumed last week in Australia without a traditional taunt of travelling English fans: "We're fat, we're round, three dollars to the pound."

The Australian dollar, the second-best performer among 16 major currencies this year, has soared 55 per cent against the pound since the teams last battled for the Ashes on Australian soil, making everything from the price of hotel rooms to meals more expensive for England's Barmy Army of fans.

The dollar chant "won't be coming out of the songbook this time", Barmy Army spokeswoman Becky Fairlie-Clarke said. "It's more like 1 now."

The slump in visitors' purchasing power is reducing the benefit of the six-week contest for the Australian economy.

The 2006-07 series generated A$265 million in incremental direct expenditure, according to a URS report, as 37,000 fans came from Britain.

That may be less than 20,000 this time and those who have come aren't leaving as many dollars behind, said the managing director of government agency Tourism Australia, Andrew McEvoy.

At the start of the 2006-07 series, when Australia romped to a 5-0 series sweep, £500 would have bought a British tourist A$1250. The same amount is worth about A$806 now.

Four years earlier, during England's 2002-03 Ashes tour, fans were getting on average A$2.86 a pound.

One cricket fan watching his wallet as much as the contest between bat and ball this time is Andy Clark, editor of the England cricket fanzine Corridor of Uncertainty.

Clark's latest editorial begins by asking readers whether they're shocked at the measly amount of Australian dollars they're getting.

"It's very expensive," Clark, 41, said outside Brisbane's Gabba stadium, which hosted the first match.

"The cheapest pint of beer you can get is about £4.50, which is too much. I made two pints last about three hours the other night."

Clark said he's having to "scrimp and save a bit" to get to the five test matches that are scheduled to conclude on January 7 in Sydney.

He stayed with friends in Brisbane and will do the same for Melbourne. He hired a campervan with some friends to get to Adelaide (where the second test started yesterday) and Perth to help save costs. Backpacker hostels are the preferred accommodation, he said. He's not alone.

"I had to stay in a backpackers' for the first night because it's massively more expensive than when I was here two years ago," said James Mellor, 36, from London.

"The cost of food and drink is astronomical in comparison."

The UK is Australia's second-largest source of tourists, trailing only New Zealand, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

In September, 51,800 short-term visitors arrived from the UK, according to Government figures.

The previous Ashes series provided a spike in visits - 76,600 arrived from the UK in December 2006, compared with 60,000 in the same month a year earlier.

The next year, when the tournament wasn't played, arrivals fell to 55,800.

When measured by economic prosperity across the population, the countries are headed in opposite directions.

The International Monetary Fund said Australia - boosted by surging demand for commodities such as iron ore and coal from China and India - this year ranks sixth in the world in gross domestic product per capita, up from 15th five years ago.

The UK has fallen to 21st from 11th.

"People come probably thinking that they're going to spend, say, three or four thousand British pounds, and it just doesn't go as far as it did in 2006," McEvoy said.

The Barmy Army, a semi-organised group of cricket fans whose songs provide the soundtrack to England's overseas tours, is smaller than four years ago.

About half as many tour packages have been sold through the group's official website, Fairlie-Clarke said.

That didn't stop choruses of Rule Britannia and God Save Your Gracious Queen on the final day of the series opener as England hit a record second-innings 517-1 to force a draw at the Gabba, where Australia has not been beaten since 1988.

Home captain Ricky Ponting said it felt like playing in London. "I forgot where I was," he said.

"It was like being back at the Oval."

During the corresponding match four years ago, a record crowd of 164,727 turned up over five days at the Brisbane venue. This year's aggregate was 132,858.

Of the 813,316 tickets to the five matches of the 2006-07 series, about 245,000, or 30 per cent, were bought by international visitors.

Ticket sales haven't been "quite as frenzied" as last time, said Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland.

The governing body is expecting the number of UK visitors to be down.

"We're all aware of the financial crisis and the impact that had and the way it's still affecting European markets.

"On top of that is the currency."

- Bloomberg

Cash crash

A$1250 what £500 bought at the start of the 2006-07 Ashes series.

A$806 what £500 buys now.