Calais 'popular for short holidays'

The French port of Calais is proving popular with Britons considering a short trip overseas this summer because of its good transport links with the UK, it has been claimed.

People looking to make a currency exchange to invest in an overseas property could look at the potential being offered by Calais, which can be easily reached from London and the English south-east.

Katia Breton, a spokeswoman for Tourism in Nord-Pas de Calais, explained that many Britons can use Calais as a good place to base themselves while discovering the French coast.

"[Britons] visit the fishing ports like Wimereux, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage and Montreuil-Sur-Mer, but they are also coming to the south of the region to Arras," she said.

However, the town's location near the Dover-to-Calais crossing could also entice people planning a new way of life to make a currency exchange and buy a property in the area, safe in the knowledge they are within easy reach of the UK and their friends and family.

Nord-Pas de Calais sees 38.9 million overnight stays per year with 45 per cent being foreign overnight stays.