The one thing Australians won’t give up, despite the cost of living

We’re in a cost-of-living crisis, in case you didn’t realise. Money’s too tight to mention, which is why all your friends probably went to Greece this northern summer instead of Italy, or maybe they’re heading to Thailand now instead of Europe, or they’re being financially savvy with the exchange rate in Japan.

Although, that doesn’t make sense. No one has any money. Rents are skyrocketing, interest rates are high, utility bills are rising, and groceries feel like luxuries (though the supermarkets seem to be doing well).

Australians are flocking to Japan in record numbers, taking advantage of a weak yen.Credit: iStock

Australians are giving up on barista flat whites and fancy restaurant visits, on new furniture and designer clothing. We’re all suffering, in a way.

And yet … we’re all still travelling?

In June this year – the most recent available statistics – there were 1.93 million returning international travellers among resident Australians. Compare that to June 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic: that number was 1.56 million.

A recent survey in Australia by YouGov, for Southern Cross Travel Insurance, found 91 per cent of respondents planned to travel this year. And, both Qantas and Flight Centre have just posted massive annual profits.

So there are far more Australians travelling now, in the midst of this cost-of-living crisis, than there were in peak times before COVID-19. Not only has travel bounced back, but it’s bounced all the way back over its previous highs. What gives?

Ironically, you can blame COVID, at least in part. There’s nothing like a global pandemic to hammer home the urgency to go places and do things. Australians are prioritising travel experiences over other perceived luxuries (47 per cent of respondents to that YouGov survey considered travel more important than other discretionary spends), no doubt with the knowledge that this thing we love, travel, is not permanent or guaranteed.

Australia is also a nation of committed travellers, who won’t let a small thing like a crisis get in their way. It’s always been so, though particularly in the past 20 years, when the democratisation of travel has meant that this isn’t just a pastime for the top end of town, but for people across many demographics and socio-economic standings.

Australians, you could argue, have always prioritised travel experiences over other desires. We’re also happy to travel long distances, because we have to. We tend to be pretty adventurous. We also tend to be pretty rich (relative to most other countries).

Plus, travel is habit-forming, regardless of where you come from or how much money you have at your disposal. Once you get the bug, it’s almost impossible to get it out of your system. If you have always travelled, then you will continue to do so – you will find a way.

Social media fans the flames of this desire. When you’re constantly bombarded by images of friends, family, celebrities and influencers all taking amazing holidays in desirable places, that pushes the travel experience well above a new couch or a bathroom reno.

The big question that remains, therefore, is how is everyone doing this? You can have priorities and desires wherever you like, but how do you indulge them if money is so tight?

There could be a clue to that coming from the US. A survey in the States last year by finance website WalletHub found that 25 per cent of respondents said it was worth going into debt to finance a holiday – and the majority would do that by whacking most of their travel expenses on a credit card.

This trend of prioritising travel, CNN reports, began during the financial crisis in the 2000s, though hit its peak after pandemic-related travel restrictions were lifted.

There’s something else to consider, too. Yes, house prices in Australia are rising at a frightening rate, but that doesn’t mean young people will stop spending in order to crack the market one day. The property situation is so dire that many of those potential buyers just don’t see a way of ever being able to afford it, and so spend their money elsewhere.

It was, after all, Millennials driving the statistics in that YouGov survey in Australia – they’re the most likely generation to prioritise travel experiences over other discretionary spending.

Budget-conscious travellers are choosing destinations such as Greece instead.Credit: Alamy

Those Millennials, like many other travellers, are now just looking for ways to bring down the cost of travel, rather than give it up. They’re looking for more affordable destinations, taking shorter trips to those destinations, and booking cheaper hotels and saving on other experiences when they get there.

Because the other option is unthinkable. Even in a crisis.