Travel bug: Aussies plan to spend $8K on holidays in the next year
Despite cost of living pressures, millions of Aussies are planning a getaway in the next year. See how and trending destinations.
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Travel plans are high on the agenda for Australians despite cost of living biting, with 90 per cent of the nation expected to visit destinations far and wide in the next 12 months, new data has revealed.
New KAYAK.com.au research found 90 per cent of respondents were planning to travel in the next year, with 60 per cent planning overseas trips and 84 per cent looking at domestic travel.
Australians are planning on spending an average of $8000 on travel in that period, with 26 per cent of travellers expecting their budget to be more than $10,000. Half of those surveyed were planning to spend more on travel than they did last year.
Cities in Japan are among of the top trending destinations for Aussies, as well as Hong Kong, Amristar in India and Beirut in Lebanon, KAYAK research showed.
Virgin Australia reported Bali, Vanuatu and Queenstown were the most popular international holiday destinations for its customers.
It was similar for Jetstar.
“Bali is still our most popular place for customers to visit. But we’ve noticed growing interest from holiday-makers in other exciting destinations such as Japan, South Korea, Fiji, and the Cook Islands,” a Jetstar spokesperson said.
The research based on a survey of 1010 people also revealed Aussies’ travel motivations were spurred largely (83 per cent) by celebrating milestones, such as birthdays. While more than one in five (22 per cent) are seeking out holidays after finishing a busy period of work.
“As Aussies, travel is in our DNA and despite macroeconomic uncertainties it looks like many Aussies are still struck by the travel bug, with searches for flights to both international and domestic destinations up 47 per cent for travel over the next 12 months compared to last year,” KAYAK brand director Nicola Carmichael said.
“Travel costs seem to be stabilising with international airfares up only 2 per cent, and domestic airfares up just 7 per cent, compared to last year.”
Despite costs stabilising, Australians are borrowing more money to travel, Australia Bureau of Statistics data shows.
Australians took out new travel-related loans in July this year worth a total of $570,000, up from $230,000 12 months prior and an $180,000 increase on pre-Covid July 2019 travel loans, according to the ABS Lending Indications reports, which looks at new borrower-accepted finance commitments for housing, personal and business loans.
This July’s travel-related loan total was the highest recorded since January 2018, which was $590,000.
Steve Hui, chief executive of iFLYflat, said anecdotally he heard from people in Croatia and Italy that there was a lot of Australians and New Zealanders enjoying the European summer this year.
His business, which is in the space of booking flights with points, was “back to pre-pandemic levels and had the busiest July and August months of booking flights helping people who have points,” he said.
TIPS FOR TRAVELLING ON A BUDGET
Frequent Flyer Programs
Mr Hui, the self appointed “points whisperer”, said it was possible for Australian families to get two if not three return flights a year by tapping into frequent flyer rewards programs, depending on the destination.
He said unlike flights paid for in cash, which fluctuate based on demand and availability, frequent flyer reward seat prices remained the same, unless there was a specific sale on those fares.
Mr Hui encouraged Aussies to find out how many points their chosen route cost and then take steps to generate that amount of points within a households’ regular budget, such as paying for weekly groceries with a credit card that generates frequent flyer points and scanning the supermarkets’ affiliated rewards cards, such as FlyBuys.
In addition, he suggested people consider shopping for items they need through online frequent flyer-affiliated stores, such as through Qantas Online Mall, which regularly offers bonus points.
Location
Depending on travel plans, selecting locations with more favourable currency conversion could help stretch holiday-makers’ money further, Ms Carmichael said..
She also suggested choosing less popular destinations could work out cheaper.
“For example, if you’re planning to visit Japan in the next year, check to see if flying into Osaka instead of Tokyo could save you money – you may be able to keep approximately $131 in your wallet. The same goes for Italy, flying into Milan instead of Rome could save you around $55.”
Dates
KAYAK research showed the average cost of an international flight was $1,727, up 2 per cent compared to last year, while the average domestic flight was $382, up 7 per cent year-on-year.
It found the most affordable day to travel domestically was on a Monday (about $372 for a return economy flight), with the most expensive likely on a Thursday (about $390 for a return economy flight).
Mondays are likely the most affordable day to travel internationally (about $1,687 for a return economy flight) while later in the week on Friday’s is likely the most expensive day (about $1,740 for a return economy flight).
Virgin Australia said the most affordable travel times were “midweek, outside of holidays and events periods”.
“The best way Aussies can stretch their dollar further when it comes to travelling is to plan early and be flexible. If you can avoid having set dates, you’ll be able to let your wallet guide you, instead of being forced to potentially pay high prices,” Ms Carmichael said.
“You should also consider booking routes with stopovers, while it might seem like a hassle, adding a few extra hours to your travel journey could save you.”
She suggested Aussies try KAYAK’s new Best Time to Travel tool, to help “take this guesswork out of planning a trip”.
“KAYAK incorporates current and historical data to predict the best prices, weather and projected crowds through the Best Time to Travel tool to help Aussie travellers make informed decisions about when to go on their next holiday. For example, flying to Bali from Sydney for a week holiday travelling in November instead of January currently offers the best pricing and less crowds,” she said.
AUSSIE FLIGHT DEALS
For Australians looking to get away this year, there were still some deals to be picked up if you wanted to holiday in your backyard.
Virgin Australia Deals
Gold Coast to Sydney from $109 one way Lite during both the September and Christmas holidays
Brisbane to Sydney from $119 one way Lite during both the September and Christmas holidays
Melbourne to Sydney from $139 one way Lite during both the September and Christmas holidays
Hobart to Melbourne from $99 one way Lite Christmas holidays
Adelaide to Melbourne from $109 one way Lite Christmas holidays
Byron Bay to Sydney from $79 one way Lite Christmas holidays
Virgin Australia’s Queensland is Calling sale, which launched on Monday, has fares from $49 and up to 50 per cent off.
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