Aussies are ditching Bali for Vietnam

THIS long popular Aussie tourist destination is losing its shine, and now a surprising country has taken its place.

BALI is losing its shine.

Fewer Aussies are heading to the once-popular destination, according to the boss of online travel booking site Webjet.

“People are not going to Bali as frequently as they used to,” managing director John Guscic said. “There’s been the volcano and now the earthquake appears to have diminished (the number of trips) in the last 12 months.”

Bali seems to have lost its shine with Australian travellers. Picture: iStock

Mr Guscic said Webjet, which on Thursday reported a 63 per cent jump in underlying full-year profit as bookings surged, was “seeing increased numbers going to Asia, in particular strong growth into Vietnam”.

“We’re seeing Japan continue as it has (in previous years) to perform very strongly,” he said. “Sri Lanka is an emerging destination and we are focusing some of our efforts on North Africa. Egypt’s coming back, Morocco, Tunisia, they’re all coming back (as terror fears ease).”

Vietnam is seeing huge growth. Picture: iStock

Webjet’s underlying profit for the 2018 financial year rose to $55.7 million, with revenue increasing by 54 per cent to $291 million and total transaction value up 54 per cent to $3 billion.

The main online travel business saw a 10 per cent rise in bookings, but it was the business-to-business arm WebBeds that contributed the most to the growth, with hotel bookings more than tripling to 2.27 million.

Webjet has seen a 10 per cent rise in bookings. Picture: iStock

“In absolute terms the growth is coming from our B2B business where organically we’re growing at 60-plus per cent,” Mr Guscic said.

“We’re starting to improve our size and starting to get some of the scale benefits as expected, that’s flowing through to the bottom line.”

Webjet is now the largest online travel agent in the country, with more than 5 per cent of the domestic market and 3 per cent of the international market.

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