Are We There Yet? Family Holiday Trends Over The Last 12 Months

Anyone else feel as though April has come early this year? Autumn is in the air, the Easter Bunny is gearing up for another round of chocolate deliveries and families around Australia are about to spend a lot of quality time together as schools break up for the end of yet another term. Yep, while it may seem like the Christmas holidays just happened, apparently that was a good couple of months ago now.  

With the kids no longer bound to their classrooms, many families are choosing to take this quality time together on the road (or through the air) for a well-deserved holiday. But coordinating a family holiday on your own can be quite the challenge, especially when you’re trying to accommodate the interests of different generations.  

That’s where we come in. 

Over the past 12 months, our Flight Centre stores have made more family bookings than grains of sand left in your car after a long day at the beach, so it’s safe to say we know a thing or two about organising the perfect family getaway! Want to know what we’ve discovered about how our Aussie families are travelling? Read on to find out what our Flight Centre store booking data is telling us... 

As anyone who’s ever travelled with children knows, there are some destinations more suited to family visitors than others. For example, I once went on holiday to Santorini with four kids between the ages of two and 10 and, just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, the cute cobblestones of Santorini weren’t built for prams. So, while the pristine waters, exciting nightlife and Mamma Mia! aesthetic makes Greece one of the more popular destinations for our solo, couple and small group travellers, our family data paints a different picture.

Based on our store booking data for the past 12 months, the 10 most popular destinations for family travellers are...

1. Australia 
2. United Kingdom 
3. United States 
4. Indonesia 
5. Fiji 
6. New Zealand 
7. Thailand 
8. Singapore 
9. Italy 
10. Philippines 

It’s not too surprising that many of our Aussie families have opted to keep their travel plans close to home in the last year. Over 50% of the family bookings made for the 10 destinations above were attributed to Australia. And where in Australia are all of these families going? Well, while it might feel like every influencer and their dog has been to Byron Bay, families flocked to the Gold Coast for its iconic theme parks and golden beaches. A winning combination for kids (and adults) of any age! 

Other Aussie hot spots for families over the last year included the east coast cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Need some inspiration for your next city trip? The kids will love exploring Taronga Zoo or Luna Park in Sydney, catching a game at Melbourne’s MCG or spending some time in the Botanic Gardens of Brisbane.

Of the families who decided to book holidays outside of Australia over the last 12 months, the United Kingdom proved to be the most popular destination. Shout out to anyone who’s ever made the long-haul journey from Australia to London with small children – it's no small feat but totally worth the journey! Mind-blowing museums, West End shows, Hamleys (the world’s oldest toy shop), Buckingham Palace – London is an endless cultural adventure for family travellers. While London definitely scored most of our UK bookings, families also had their sights set on Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Looking for something entertaining for the kids to watch while you're on the road? Try our Kids Talk video series on YouTube!

Hot on the United Kingdom’s heels were destinations in the United States. Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood had lots of families booking trips to Los Angeles this year, but Honolulu, New York and San Francisco were also popular options. And for those looking for something a little more tropical (and short-haul), destinations like Indonesia and Fiji were attractive places to escape the hustle and bustle with the family.

So, how have these travel habits changed post-pandemic? Interestingly, when comparing the family booking data over the same period in 2019/2020, the most popular international destination was the United States, with the United Kingdom coming in further down the list, after Indonesia. During this period, the States saw almost twice as many family bookings as the UK. Given the number of Aussies who call the UK home, one explanation for this shift could be that a lot of families are still catching up on lost time with their loved ones.

It’s no use us sitting here and trying to pretend that the cost of travel hasn’t gone up over the last couple of years. The cost of everything has gone up, and unfortunately travel is no exception. There are a number of factors which have contributed to these increasing prices: high demand, low availability, high fuel prices for aircraft and the huge losses incurred by the travel industry over the pandemic being some of them.  

To help give you a rough idea of how much more you might expect to pay for a family holiday these days, we’ve compared the average amount spent by families over the last 12 months with the average amount spent over the same period in 2019/2020. For domestic travel, we’ve seen an increase of close to $400 for families wanting to explore everything Australia has to offer. Want to jump on the UK trend? On average, families have been spending over $3,000 more than they used to. Aussie families are also spending just under $1,000 more to hop across the ditch to New Zealand than they were in 2019/2020, which is worth keeping in mind if you’ve got your sights set on a Queenstown adventure holiday or a South Island road trip.

But don't let these figures freak you out! It must also be said that families planning international holidays are typically travelling for longer now than they were pre-pandemic, so this would also be a contributing factor for the price increases. Make up for lost time, no matter what it costs, right?!

While we know increasing costs make a huge difference when organising to take your family on holiday, here at Flight Centre we also know that there’s always a deal to be had if you know where to look and are willing to be a little flexible. Check out our School Holiday Deals page or speak to a Travel Expert in one of our stores so we can find something to keep both the kids and your wallet happy! 

It can be hard to know how far in advance to book a holiday. Book too early and you may see prices drop (on that note, did you know that Flight Centre offers Price Drop Protection on your flights when you book online or when you add the Captain’s Package to your booking?) but book too late and you may miss out altogether. It’s a fine line to tread! 

On average, families planning domestic travel over the past 12 months booked their trips approximately 43 days in advance. Finding themselves at the mercy of school holiday timings, most families don’t have the luxury or flexibility of booking a spontaneous holiday whenever the mood strikes! Families planning trips to New Zealand typically booked slightly earlier, on average about 80 days (or two and a half months) in advance. 

There’s a big difference between organising a quick weekend trip to Melbourne and organising an epic once-in-a-lifetime family escapade overseas! So, for destinations in the northern hemisphere that require a tad more planning for Aussie travellers, we’ve unsurprisingly seen families booking much further out. The average time between a family booking a trip to the United Kingdom and their departure date over the last 12 months has been 130 days. For the United States, slightly less with 116 days. Other popular destinations like France and Italy also saw families getting organised over four months early, with average booking dates of 137 and 136 days in advance, respectively.

Want to get ahead of the game for your next holiday? Subscribe to our mailing list so you’re the first to know when hot deals drop, plus get a regular dose of travel inspiration delivered straight to your inbox!

All this talk of family travel got you inspired to pack up the suitcases and start planning your next adventure? Here’s a family-friendly attraction in each of the top 10 destinations to get you started! 

1. Australia Zoo, Australia 
2. Edinburgh Castle, United Kingdom 
3. Disneyland, United States 
4. Ubud Monkey Forest, Indonesia 
5. Snorkelling in Fiji 
6. Hobbiton™ Movie Set Tours, New Zealand 
7. Bua Tong Waterfall, Thailand 
8. Gardens by the Bay, Singapore 
9. The Colosseum, Italy 
10. Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Philippines 

Disclaimer: The information in this report is based on the family store booking data currently available to us. Data is based on booking date, not travel dates, for the period 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023.