‘Determined’ holiday-makers push winter travel in cost of living rebuke

In 2024, the average winter traveller is likely to take a short, cheap trip near home, but there’s a good chance they will bring the dog.

Despite colder weather, the Gold Coast will be the most popular regional destination for Australian travellers this winter.

Australians have decided that holidays are non-negotiable, despite cost-of-living pressures, with travel rates on the rise.

Recent polling shows that trips are getting shorter since the Easter break as financial pressures grow, but the frequency of holidaying was still on the rise: 74 per cent of Australians are travelling this winter, an increase since autumn’s 70 per cent.

This school holidays, travel has become the No 1 non-essential spending priority, according to the Tourism and Transport Forum.

Some 23 per cent of those surveyed said it was their highest priority beyond essentials, followed by personal care and make-up at 19 per cent and gifts for others at 14 per cent.

The national survey of 1500 participants indicated 34 per cent were holidaying near home, 26 per cent would cross borders, and 14 per cent were going overseas this winter.

The international contingent marks a significant rise from the 8 per cent travelling overseas in autumn, as many Aussies chase the northern hemisphere’s ­summer.

Europe remains the overseas destination of choice heading into the 2024 Olympics.

The top destination is Europe followed by New Zealand, then Japan, the US, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

TTF chief Margy Osmond said more Australians were visiting local cultural sites, a sector she argued needed greater government funding. “The pandemic was an extraordinarily difficult time for the tourism industry. But if there’s one outcome from it, that I think is proving a real boon for the tourism industry,” Ms Osmond said.

“People are determined not to be locked down or locked away, and the independence and the capacity to get away that a holiday represents has now become everybody’s No 1 priority.

“People have got a different kind of view of their own country now. They’re seeing more opportunities and options in terms of holidaying in Australia than they have before.”

Financial stresses are still the greatest barrier to travel, and increasingly becoming more of an impediment.

In the previous quarter, 53 per cent of Australians had travel plans impacted by financial pressures. That has now reached 56 per cent.

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond.

From that portion, almost a quarter of people cut plans short to save costs. Most people going away this winter will not spend more than $5000 or be away for more than a week.

Despite this, animals are increasingly likely to travel with their owners. The latest polling indicates that one in six families intends to take pets with them on holiday, and just as many intend to leave their furry friends in special pet accommodation.

“What used to happen is that after people met their expenses … a little retail luxury was the thing that they were most likely to get for themselves,” Ms Osmond said.

“Now it’s a holiday, and they’re absolutely … determined nobody’s going to stop them getting away.”

Local holidayers will bring a tourist influx to NSW, followed in popularity by Queensland, Victoria and WA. The top three cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane.

Regional highlights are the Gold Coast, then Sunshine Coast, the Great Ocean Road, the Mornington Peninsula and NSW Far North Coast.

“People are holidaying in their own state; they’re discovering a whole lot of things that they might not have done before,” Ms Osmond said.