Where we went in 2024: The most popular destinations for Australians

Despite the cost-of-living crisis, overseas travel bounced back in 2024 with the number of international trips taken by Australian residents surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, Australian residents took 11.4 million trips in the 12 months to October 2024 (the most recent month for which figures are available), roughly 150,000 more trips than for the same period in 2019.

The Shinjuku district in Tokyo. Australians flocked to Japan in record numbers in 2024.Credit: iStock

But while some destinations experienced record visitation from Australians, other spots still lagged the numbers they received before the pandemic.

Our love affair with Japan continued to blossom, helped by a weak yen, with a record 765,000 visitors heading to the Land of the Rising Sun, up more than 50 per cent on pre-pandemic levels and more than 70 per cent on the same period for 2023, making it the third most-visited country, behind Indonesia and New Zealand.

Michelle Mackintosh of Melbourne, a regular visitor to Japan and who with partner Steve Wide has written multiple travel books on the country including a just-published guide to train travel, said the world has finally caught on to the appeal of Japan.

“It is like another world and I do believe that anyone who goes there comes home so exhilarated with the experience that all of their friends then book,” she said.

Michelle Mackintosh (right) and Steve Wide are certified Japanophiles and have written multiple travel books on the country.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Mackintosh cites the ease of getting there, the lack of jet lag (Japan is only two hours behind Australia’s Eastern Standard Time), the weak yen and the local culture as key drivers.

However, the couple have noticed a change in recent times as the country struggles to cope with the influx of tourists.

“In the big cities, it’s really changed considerably,” said Wide. “Now there are big queues for places that have been mentioned in Time Out (magazine) that aren’t particularly any better than other places around it, or something gets picked up on by the internet and all of a sudden you can’t get in there any more.”

They recommend travellers look outside the most popular destinations in the country to experience Japanese culture and hospitality as it used to be when they began visiting in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, a cheap holiday in Bali certainly seemed appealing in 2024, with the number of Australians visitors to Indonesia surging to record levels. There were more than 1.6 million visits, up more than 26 per cent on last year and nearly 20 per cent on pre-COVID numbers.

James Kavanagh, the global leisure chief executive of Flight Centre Travel Group, said Bali was the travel company’s top-selling destination in 2024.

“The year prior, London held the top spot, so this switch shows a desire from customers for more affordable and closer-to-home options,” he said. “Aussies are watching their budgets due to the high cost-of-living but aren’t willing to forego travel altogether.”

Vietnam, the ninth most popular destination, also experienced massive growth, increasing to 423,000 visitors, up 35 per cent on last year and 33 per cent on 2019 figures.

Despite still being the fourth most-visited country by Australians, and being up 13 per cent on last year, visitor numbers to the United States remained well below pre-pandemic levels at 732,000 – almost a third lower than the same period in 2019.

“Bookings to the US dropped last year but we’re seeing airlines introducing new routes and increasing capacity which we’re hoping will see that trend turn around,” Kavanagh said.

Visitors to China are now close to returning to pre-pandemic levels thanks to a 124 per cent surge in the number of Australian residents heading there in 2024, helped by the return of major Chinese carriers to Australian routes.

Although not among the most popular destinations, several countries had huge increases in the number of Australians visiting compared to before the pandemic.

These included South Korea (up 53 per cent – though the figures do not cover the period of recent political upheaval in the country), Turkey (up 39 per cent) and Pakistan (up 32 per cent).

The number of visitors to Sri Lanka and Iran both surged by more than 40 per cent in 2024, taking the number of Australian visitors for both countries to above pre-pandemic levels.

Unsurprisingly, the countries with the biggest drops in Australian visitors were those involved in conflict and political unrest, notably Israel (down 64 per cent compared to last year), New Caledonia (down 50 per cent) and Lebanon (down 31 per cent).