One in seven travel bookings over Easter was for this destination, proving old holiday habits die hard

London is no longer Australians’ most popular Easter holiday destination, knocked off by an old favourite that accounts for 14 per cent of all international bookings.

Bali has rocketed back to the top of Australians’ travel list after being displaced by London last year, signalling a resounding return to pre-pandemic habits.

Data supplied by Webjet shows Bali accounted for one in every seven international bookings made during April, or 13.9 per cent.

Not even threats of an out-of-wedlock sex ban or restrictions on scooter hire could deter Aussie travellers, who made up 40 per cent of foreign visitors to the Indonesian holiday isle pre-Covid.

In 2022 Bali slumped to eighth on the list of international destinations for the Easter holiday period, and London was number one, due to the post-Covid boom, for visiting friends and relatives.

This year, London slipped to the fourth most-booked destination behind Bali, and Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand. Los Angeles disappeared from the top 10 altogether after ranking fifth in 2022, with every other spot was taken by places in the Asia-Pacific region.

While cost was considered a factor in the shift away from long-haul travel, there was no shortage of interest in overseas holidays, with international bookings up 47.5 per cent on the same time last year.

Webjet online travel agency chief executive officer David Galt said the visiting friends and relative market that led last year’s travel boom remained strong and the leisure market was powering ahead.

“For us Australians, travel is a right and a privilege that we deem we need and we’re going about it vigorously which is great to see,” Mr Galt said.

He said Bali’s appeal was showing no sign of fading. Airfares from $615 ex-Sydney return were helping to drive traffic, along with the island’s range of accommodation.

After reopening to international tourists in February 2022, interest in Bali had ballooned, he said. “It really does compete with Queensland in a lot of ways and it has consistent weather,” Mr Galt said.

“We’ve seen some pretty bad storms through northern New South Wales and Queensland in the last two to three years whereas Bali hasn’t been as affected. That’s important if you’re booking a resort or beach-style holiday — you want to make sure you have some good weather.”

Travel to Europe was expected to fire up when Chinese airlines bolstered capacity to Australia, increasing travel options.

“Pre-pandemic we did see a lot of Australians fly on the Chinese-owned airlines because it was quite an affordable way to get to Europe and pretty convenient,” Mr Galt said.

“There’s interest in destination China as well, due to its amazing history and heritage, and Australians typically have a thirst for those cultural and educational experiences.”

His only advice to people booking an international trip was to take out travel insurance, to provide medical cover and compensation in the event of cancellations.

“A lot of the destinations being booked often involve activity such as skiing in Japan or New Zealand and surfing in Bali, so the medical cover you get when you take out insurance is really important,” he said.

Originally published as One in seven travel bookings over Easter was for this destination, proving old holiday habits die hard