Australia’s Year In Travel 2024: What Were Our Travel Trends?

Despite international airfares from Australia dropping across the board by an average of around 13% this year and domestic airfares remaining relatively high, domestic travel accounted for 69% of all bookings and international 31% of bookings. 

Melbourne is still our top hangout! These were our top 10 domestic destinations:

1. Melbourne
2. Sydney
3. Brisbane
4. Gold Coast
5. Adelaide
6. Perth
7. Cairns
8. Hobart
9. Canberra
10. Townsville 

Bali edged out London! Customers' top 10 international destinations were:

1. Bali
2. London
3. Auckland
4. Bangkok
5. Singapore
6. Tokyo
7. Los Angeles
8. Rome
9. Manila
10. Athens 

Around 53% of all solo travellers were female.

The average duration of their domestic hotel stays was 4 nights.

Their top 10 domestic destinations were.

1. Melbourne
2. Sydney
3. Brisbane
4. Perth
5. Adelaide
6. Gold Coast
7. Cairns
8. Darwin
9. Hobart
10. Canberra 

The average duration of solos' international hotel stays was 6 nights.

Their top 10 international destinations were:

1. London
2. Auckland
3. Bangkok
4. Sydney
5. Bali
6. Manila
7. Los Angeles
8. Singapore
9. Dubai
10. Tokyo 

The average duration of couples' domestic hotel stays was 5 nights.

Their top 10 domestic destinations were:

1. Sydney
2. Melbourne
3. Brisbane
4. Gold Coast
5. Cairns
6. Perth
7. Adelaide
8. Hobart
9. Darwin
10. Sunshine Coast 

The average duration of couples' international hotel stays was 8 nights.

Their top 10 international destinations were:

1. London
2. Bali
3. Singapore
4. Rome
5. Athens
6. Tokyo
7. Auckland
8. Los Angeles
9. Paris
10. Dubai 

The average duration of their domestic holiday hotel stays was 6 nights and their top 10 domestic destinations were:

1. Sydney
2. Melbourne
3. Gold Coast
4. Brisbane
5. Cairns
6. Perth
7. Adelaide
8. Sunshine Coast
9. Darwin
10. Hamilton Island

The average duration of family international hotel stays was 10 nights and their top 10 international destinations were:

1. Bali
2. London
3. Singapore
4. Tokyo
5. Los Angeles
6. Rome
7. Athens
8. Fiji
9. Paris
10. Dubai 

Here's the seating arrangements our Aussie customers chose as they soared above the clouds:

• Economy 91%
• Premium Economy 3%
• Business Class 6%
• First Class <1%

While 60% of those travelling internationally chose one-stop flights to their destinations, 27% flew direct and 13% took multi-stop flights. 

These were the top 5 domestic destinations where our customers spent hotel nights:

1. Sydney
2. Melbourne
3. Gold Coast
4. Brisbane
5. Cairns 

The top 5 international destinations for hotels were:

1. Bali
2. Singapore
3. London
4. Phuket
5. Rome 

Did they choose to stay in style? We'll let you be the judge:

• 5-star  17%
• 4-star 54%
• 3-star 26%
• 2-star 3% 

For those who chose "deckchair & daiquiri" holidays this year, the 5 most popular international cruise destinations were:

1. Cvitavecchia (Italy)
2. Athens
3. Vancouver
4. Amsterdam
5. Southampton

International cruises were predominantly enjoyed by couples (72%) and families (17%) with the average age of cruisers at 63 years.

All these cruisers unpacked in varying 'state-room' classes but cabins with balconies were the favourite:

• Interior 20%
• Balcony 48%
• Ocean view 11%
• Suite 9%
• Penthouse <1%
• Other 12% 

Of our customers who booked tours in 2024, most were couples (47%), and solo travellers (34%). The average age of our customers taking tours was 49 years.

The 5 most popular destinations our customers took a tour were:

1. London
2. Rome
3. Athens
4. Hanoi
5. Madrid 

Most of our customers who hired cars with us in 2024 were couples (51%) and families (26%).

The most popular vehicle types hired were:

1. SUV
2. Compact
3. Intermediate/Full size
4. Economy
5. Minivan 

When travelling on a budget, sometimes dream trips to bucket list destinations have to be put on hold in favour of visiting spots in countries where favourable exchange rates let your dollar travel a little further. Travel around these countries became more affordable in 2024 as their local currencies looked increasingly tempting to anyone holding Aussie dollars (compared to 12 months ago).*

• Brazil +21.9% 
• Türkiye +16%
• Mexico +14.8%
• Hungary  +9.9%
• Chile +9.1%
• South Korea  +6.1%
• New Zealand +2.8% 

Although the regions and cities of China haven't featured in our top 10 destinations for 2024, the country's popularity has more than doubled in the last 12 months on the back of a number of China-based airlines increasing capacity. This busier traffic, combined with the Chinese government recently extending its visa-free policy for Australian passport holders from 15 days to 30 days, make it our top pick as a destination Aussies will flock to in 2025.

Given the historically favourable currency exchange rates of Brazil, Mexico and Türkiye – combined with their enduring appeal as destinations of discovery – we're predicting more Aussies will check them out.

Destinations that are perennially popular for being easy on budgets, and that we've seen more Aussies flock to in 2024 than the previous year, will likely see bigger visitor numbers in 2025. These include Bali, Phuket and Vietnam. 

*Source: https://www.google.com/finance/. Exchange rates as at 4 December 2024

Methodology

This report is based on the internal booking data we had available to us and covers a time period of 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024.