Life’s a beach for grey globetrotters

Despite rising cost of living pressures and the high cost of airfares, bookings for luxury holidays remain surprisingly robust with older Australians spending up big on bucket list holidays.

Amanjena Morocco is among the luxurious holiday destinations for Australia’s over-50s.

Despite rising cost of living pressures and the high cost of airfares, bookings for luxury holidays remain surprisingly robust with older Australians spending up big on bucket list holidays.

“We’re certainly seeing the over-50 age bracket spending a lot more on travel than what they were spending over the last two to three years,” said Andrew Stark, global managing director of Flight Centre.

With reduced mortgage pressures, fewer dependants and higher disposable incomes, these travellers are more likely to spend more on luxury vacations than their younger counterparts.

“We‘ve also seen among the more affluent spenders’ basket sizes ranging from $20,000 to $65,000 on average, so they are really spending a lot on travel.”

Mr Stark said booking data showed over 50s were travelling more often, taking 2.5 trips per year on average compared to 1-1.4 trips booked by the mass generalist traveller.

Data from Flight Centre Travel Group’s Travel Associates network also revealed significant increases in first and business class travel, with bookings up 101 per cent and 127 per cent respectively from the previous year. Total transactional value of business class also exceeded economy sales.

Punting in dug out canoes on Okavango Delta reservoir in Botswana.

Luxury accommodation is also booming, with August 2023 booking data from Luxury Escapes showing a 762 per cent increase in bookings of its Ultra Lux products for the year to date, while its premium room bookings had increased 121 per cent year on year.

While seniors are spending up big, the appetite for travel among the general population is also robust, with data from the July CommBank Household Spending Insights report showing a 7.1 per cent annual increase in recreational spend (which includes travel and entertainment expenditure) among its seven million customers.

The beachscape at Castelsardo in Sardinia, Italy.

General manager of Capella Sydney Marc von Arnim said while the luxury sector was seeing positive growth, motivations for travel and customer expectations had changed.

“Post-Covid, what people are after are unique offerings and experiences,” he said, “People are very willing to travel to Australia to experience and immerse themselves into Australian culture and heritage.

“We have amazing drawcards (such as) the Great Barrier Reef and our outback, but there are also other elements they want to touch on between that … the artwork, showcasing Australian produce, spirits and wine and those things you wouldn’t necessarily see commercially.”