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We've all done it. It's the week before that much-needed holiday in the sun, but the last few days of work prove so busy that we don't get all those little pre-travel jobs ticked off.

Including that most crucial of tasks – buying the relevant overseas currency.

Wrong hands? A new survey has criticised the poor exchange rates offered by airport vendors

And so we end up using the foreign money booths at the airport – and, according to a new study, pay a heavy price for our failure to plan ahead.

Research conducted by the Post Office has underlined the poor exchange rates offered by currency vendors at many UK airports – and the impact this has on consumers, with travellers reportedly wasting £21million each year by buying holiday cash this way.

The calculations are based on 1.63million tourists using airport money-changers – rather than high-street operators, which tend to offer better exchange rates.

The figures also show that two thirds of people who buy currency at British airports are heading for the Eurozone – and that a sample conversion of £268 into euros leads to a loss of £12.56 when placed against non-airport cash vendors.

According to the survey, the euro is the currency on which the most money is wasted.

But conversions of sterling into dollars also prove costly, with £1.16million being lost annually on purchases of American money at the airport – around £12 each time.

Fewer people buy Australian or Canadian dollars at the airport – but the rate of waste is even higher with these currencies, at £18.64 and £18.43 per transaction respectively.

Take care of the cents: £21million is reportedly 'wasted' every year by tourists using UK airport vendors

The survey also names and shames UK airports where vendor exchange rates are especially uncompetitive, with Bristol, Newcastle and Birmingham attracting criticism.

'We compared rates for ten currencies at 11 UK airports with those available at Post Office branches, and found that tourists buying at the airport would get less foreign cash for their pounds,' says Andrew Brown of Post Office Travel Money.

'Families changing the average value transaction of £268 into euros at the airport face lose almost £13 – enough to buy a snack lunch for four in the Costa del Sol.'