Australians took 11.4 million overseas trips in the 12 months to October 2024, according to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That’s at least 150,000 more trips than during the same period in 2019.
The United States and the United Kingdom were the most popular long-haul destinations (for flights of 12 hours plus), coming in fourth and fifth overall behind Indonesia (Bali), New Zealand and Japan. Due to the tyranny of distance, Australians are high-yielding travellers, particularly when it comes to the northern hemisphere. It takes us so long to get there, we tend to stay longer than other travellers and part more easily with our holiday dollars to make the jet lag worth it.
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Fiona Carruthers has written and edited travel for the Financial Review for almost a decade. She has held senior roles with ABC Radio National, Deutsche Welle Radio, TIME and The Australian, and was deputy editor of Traveller. Email Fiona at fcarruthers@afr.com
