Australians put travel as a priority, revealing how much they have saved for holidays and their tips

Australians across a surprising range of postcodes are making travel a top priority. See who’s splashing out the most and how they’re getting to their top destinations.

• 18 critical travel tips to save time and money

Australians are making 2023 their big year for travel as they splash serious cash on domestic and international trips, new data shows.

Research from buy now, pay later company Zip shows Australians living in regional areas and smaller suburbs are prioritising personal travel, despite soaring interest rates and the cost of living crisis.

An analysis by the company of 52,000 households shows the postcodes where Aussies are forecast to spend big on travel in 2023.

The results are surprising with smaller suburbs and regional towns topping the state lists, with 27 per cent saying they plan to curb their spending but an international trip is still on agenda, and 41 per cent said they plan to curb their spending but will travel locally.

The main reason for this trend, researchers said, is that smaller regional towns tend to have older demographics, which often means households have less financial responsibilities in terms of children or dependants.

Postcodes with smaller populations also tend to be more affluent as they often have smaller or no mortgages and therefore have higher disposable income.

Zip’s senior director (commercial) Karen Farrar said the data showed regional towns and smaller suburbs were putting personal travel first in 2023.

Young girl swinging on a swing overlooking the blue sea in Bali, where many Aussies are planning to go oveseas this year.

“What Zip’s research shows is that our passion to travel is not discriminatory and many regional towns in Australia are forecasted to spend a lot on travel this year,” Ms Farrar said.

“We believe we’re seeing this because often smaller towns are home to high income profiles who tend to be older and therefore have less financial commitment.”

But as the thirst for international travel grows, so does the demand for insurance as more Australians get their wings back.

Insurance group Cover-More Australia’s managing director Todd Nelson said travel insurance sales numbers had not yet returned to 2019 levels but were getting close.

Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse at Disneyland, another popular US destination. Picture: Getty

Road to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. Picture: iStock

“We are seeing Australians heading back to their favourite destinations: Bali, Thailand, Fiji, New Zealand and further afield to the US, the UK and Europe,” Mr Nelson said.

“And coverage for overseas medical expenses and cancellation remain the two things that our customers are looking for most in their travel insurance.”

Max Wagschall with his wife and their four children Charlotte (10), Hunter (7), Jude (5) and Marlow (4). Picture: Supplied

Max Wagschall, a 38-year-old father of four from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, said he and his partner were looking forward to their upcoming overseas family holiday and have implemented some key smart hacks in order to save for the big trip.

As a family, they have cut back on eating out and try to keep expensive weekend activities to a minimum.

Instead of meeting friends for dinner, they now opt for a day in the park.

They are also looking at renting out their home on Airbnb while they are away and are interested in carshare schemes to reduce costs.

“We jumped on travel deals early,” he said. “We’re avoiding a lot of the car deals and rental cars.

“We’ve just been really conscious of not committing to too much, but just getting the bigger ticket items locked away so that at least we’ve got a budget that we can work with when we’re on the road.”

Mr Wagschall said the family would avoid expensive big cities on their trip and opt for more budget-friendly accommodation in coastal areas.

Originally published as Australians put travel as a priority, revealing how much they have saved for holidays and their tips