Australians desperate to travel after being cooped up by Covid restrictions

After two years of being trapped by Covid border closures, Aussies are travelling again with a vengeance — and they’re happy to pay top dollar to do it.

Kwan Ho Chan and his wife Jenny Chu could not wait to travel again, making a beeline for Bali. The young couple spent the past two years slaving away in Sydney’s tech start-up scene and hadn’t left the country since 2019.

“It was like scratching an itch,” Mr Ho Chan said.

“We were in Bali for 2½ weeks, we went manta ray snorkelling and one of our mates high-fived a turtle.”

For Ms Chu, the best part of travelling again was getting outside the comfort zone.

“Just being able to get out of the country and explore different cultures again after being in lockdown for so long,” she said. “The food was definitely a highlight, trying the street food, going where the locals go.”

Kwan Ho Chan and his wife Jenny Chu couldn’t wait to travel. Picture: Tim Hunter

Unable to take time off from their busy work schedule, the couple decided to work remotely out of Bali and spend the weekends exploring and playing badminton. This decision to combine work and holiday is becoming more common among young Australians trying to juggle a busy work life with the desire to travel.

It’s cheaper too, with some international destinations being cheaper to get to than domestic ones — but none of them are exactly cheap at the moment.

Kwan Ho Chan and Jenny Chu with some fellow travellers in Ubud, Bali.

“That’s why we went to Bali,” Ms Chu said. “We went to Melbourne and paid $150 a night for a pretty crappy hotel, while what you get in Bali for the same price, if not cheaper, is incredible.”

After two years of being stuck at home, Aussies are hungry for overseas travel.

The number of jetsetters has skyrocketed, with travel almost back to pre-Covid levels, and we are paying top dollar for it.

Despite soaring inflation, high fuel prices and a weak Australian dollar, luxury travel is booming, with more Aussies splashing cash on first- and business-class seats than ever before.

For most Aussie travellers Europe is where the action is.

Qantas found their most popular destinations over the past three months have been Italy, Greece, France and the UK, as well as Bali.

For those flying Emirates, European destinations accounted for 50 per cent of traffic, with Lebanon and Turkey also in the top 10.

Jenny Chu takes in the Bali scenery.

For James Cracknell, owner of Windsong Travel in Bellingen, Coffs Harbour and Sawtell, business has been booming since the borders opened.

“We’re seeing a massive uptake of people doing anything to desperately go see friends and family anywhere in the world and they’re paying top dollar for it,” he said.

“I’ve been in this business over 30 years and I’ve never seen prices like they are at the moment.”

The cost of fuel, increased demand and staffing issues have exacerbated flight costs in recent months.

Qantas is currently flying at 50 per cent of its pre-Covid capacity, with the expectation of reaching 70 per cent by the end of the year, in a move that should hopefully alleviate prices. Yet both travel agents and airlines have found the steep prices have not deterred customers.

A Qantas spokesman said it had had more demand for first- and business-class flights than pre-Covid.

“People who have been waiting a long time for their overseas holidays treat themselves to a special flying experience as part of their travels,” the spokesman said.

“Lots of our frequent flyers are also keen to use the Qantas Points they’ve saved during the pandemic so they’ve been using them to book Business or Premium Economy seats.”

The UK, including London, has been a popular destination.

Mr Cracknell says he has seen a 100 per cent increase in business-class seat sales.

“It’s all about social distancing. People don’t want to be stuck back with 300 others in economy seats. They want space,” he said.

“Also they haven’t spent money on travel for two years, so business-class seats look very exciting.”

Mr Cracknell is planning his next trip to Kenya in September.

While Europe is more popular currently, adventure destinations such as Africa and South America are slower to open up.

“The problem is there’s not a lot of flight capacity to those places,” he said, “For Kenya, the tours and accommodation are ready but we can’t get flights in and out.”

Aussie travellers have also flocked to Italy. Picture: Supplied

It’s not just the airlines that are booming.

Cruises are making a comeback after a scandal-ridden couple of years, with customers keen to get back on the water.

Hunter Valley retirees Arthur and Christine Harris have been on more than 50 cruises together — and don’t plan to stop.

“Just before Covid started we had 20 cruises booked, including four back-to-back,” Ms Harris said.

“Of course they all got cancelled, but booking more cruises and looking forward to that kept us going when we couldn’t travel.”

The Harris’s first-ever cruise was a seven-day trip around the Hawaiian Islands a decade ago. Now they say it’s their preferred way to travel.

“You pack your suitcase, hop on the ship, unpack and that’s it,” Ms Harris said.

Arthur and Christine Harris, pictured with Carnival Cruise Captain Adriano Binacchi, were thrilled to get back onto the water. Picture: Supplied

Carnival cruises spokesman, David Jones said that despite a rough couple of years, the company had a lot of people wanting to cruise again.

“We now expect the 2022-23 summer cruise season to be near normal in terms of ship calls and turnarounds to ports around Australia,” he said.

“Overall, the recovery of cruising in Australia is happening at a faster rate than might have been expected, highlighting the passion of so many Australians for holidaying at sea.”

Despite the voracious appetite for travel, the sector has not been without its problems.

Flight cancellation and lost luggage have plagued the industry.

For Mr Cracknell’s business, it’s now part of dealing with airlines.

“Probably 40 per cent of flights that we book are either cancelled or changed,” he said.

Luggage issues and all, Kwan Ho Chan and Jenny Chu have just gotten started: “Next we’re thinking Taiwan or Japan.”

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