Popularity of shoulder season travel creates a seemingly endless Euro summer

There’s a good reason why the Euro summer social media spam seems to be lasting forever this year, as more travellers opt to visit in shoulder seasons.

There’s a good reason why the tortuous annual flood of Euro summer snaps seems to be lasting longer with each year.

Cheaper prices, cooler temperatures and fewer people have made the shoulder seasons of April-May and September-October almost as popular as the typical June to August stint for Australians visiting Europe.

Webjet flight bookings for Australia to Europe in 2024 showed on a percentage basis, most travel was undertaken in June with 16.7 per cent of bookings, followed by July and September — with both on 12.6 per cent.

Another 12 per cent of bookings was made for European travel in August, and 11.3 per cent in May.

Data for 2025 was still being finalised but early indications were that bookings to Europe in May and September were at similar levels to last year, with shoulder seasons remaining strong.

Australian Travel Industry Association chief executive Dean Long said the collapse of the traditional early bird airfare sales was helping to drive travel in off-peak periods, as people tried to stretch their holiday dollars further.

“I’m not sure shoulder seasons will ever overtake the peak period but they are growing in popularity as people are trying to find good value at a good price,” said Mr Long.

“It’s really only in Europe (this is happening) because that’s where we’re seeing the higher cost of accommodation, the cost of living in some of those countries and a slightly weaker exchange rate really hitting hard.”

Flight Centre Travel Group managing director Graham Turner said there was definitely growing interest in European holidays outside of the three month northern summer period.

He said as well as better prices, travellers were attracted by good weather and smaller crowds with the local tourists not yet out in force.

“The fact is in the UK and Europe, from late June to August that’s the holiday season when many of the locals take leave,” said Mr Turner.

“So that’s when everything is crowded, everything is packed, it’s hard to get into the hotels and restaurants you want, so a lot of that contributes to those shoulder seasons being more attractive.

“It’s just a more pleasant experience.”

Images like this have made European travel much sought after by Australian holiday makers. Picture: Harris Dro/Getty Images

Mr Long agreed travellers could have a better holiday outside of the traditional peak if they had that flexibility of schedule.

“I think if you can visit in those off peaks, you’re not going to run into some of the anti-social behaviour that we’ve seen in some of those really popular destinations like Venice,” he said.

“And if you’ve got a good travel adviser they can really direct you to places and experiences away from highly populated and overpriced tourist hotspots.”

The increased popularity of shoulder seasons and Euro travel in general had led to longer lead-in times for bookings, according to Webjet data.

In 2025, one in four customers locked in travel to Europe between May and September more than six months in advance, and 35 per cent booked three to six months ahead.

Both figures were up on 2024, while the proportion of those booking just 30 days in advance fell from 8 to 6 per cent.

Crowds of people on Ermou shopping street in Athens old town, Greece in June 2024. Picture: Kendall Hill/Getty Images

Shoulder season popularity was less pronounced in other destinations favoured by Australian travellers, with Mr Long and Mr Turner acknowledging the “year round” appeal of Asia-Pacific countries, particularly Bali and Japan.

Bureau of Statistics data showed the number of Australians flocking to Japan was now twice what it was pre-Covid, and Indonesian travel was up almost a third.

Travel to the US was yet to fully recover however, which Mr Turner attributed to a bad case of the “DTs”.

“Delirium tremens are uncontrollable shakes and trembling, normally associated from alcohol withdrawal,” said Mr Turner.

“But the DTs these days, are the Donald Trumps, I reckon, being suffered by travel agents in particular.”

He said that was due to the downturn in travel to the US, not only by Australians but countries such as Canada.

“(Flight Centre) is seeing a big turn-away particularly in leisure from Canadians visiting the States, it’s significantly down,” Mr Turner said.

“One hopes that things come out of that pretty quickly. That’s probably one of the major impacts on global tourism at the moment, it’s an unsettling effect.”

Originally published as Popularity of shoulder season travel creates a seemingly endless Euro summer