1 December 2023 — MELBOURNE: One of the world's fastest growing travel companies, Luxury Escapes, today released its annual trend report, Travel Trends.  The Report, surveying almost 4,000 Australians, details the nation's outlook on travel in 2024 plus uncovers the destinations, experiences and travel ambitions defining the year ahead.

The travel boom continues in 2024

Continuing to make up for lost time post-pandemic, nine in 10 Australians plan to travel either domestically or internationally in 2024, with 74% of Aussies primed for two or more holidays.  For more than half of Australians (56%) travel strongly tops the discretionary spend list, with food Tourism and Experiential Tourism the most popular travel trends of the year.

Travel remains top discretionary spend despite cost of living pressures

Despite cost-of-living pressures, travel remains the number one discretionary item for the majority (56%) of Australians with three quarters (72%) of respondents saying they planned on spending the same or more on travel in 2024 versus the previous year.  Australians are particularly keen to splurge on room upgrades (65%) and flight upgrades (61%) with an average travel budget of between AUD $8,000 and $10,000 per holiday.

Adam Schwab, CEO and Co-Founder of Luxury Escapes

“The key takeaway from our 2024 Travel Trends survey is that the strong rebound in Australian travel after the pandemic looks like it's here to stay. For the second year in a row, nine out of 10 Australian travellers plan to go on a holiday this year and a huge 72% of people we spoke to are planning two or more getaways,” says co-founder and CEO of Luxury Escapes Adam Schwab.  

Food Tourism and Experiential Tourism top travel trends in 2024

Food tourism remains the number one most popular travel trend of 2024 with 58% of survey respondents planning to sink their teeth into some foodie travel in the next 12 months.  Food Tourism tied for top spot with Experiential Travel, seeing more Australians than ever wanting to immerse themselves in a destination's culture. Wellness tourism continues to be popular with 36% of Australians keen to try this sector in 2024 while sustainable tourism drops down the preference list for Australians surveyed.

Top domestic destinations for 2024
Domestically, the Whitsundays took out the most popular destination for sun-seeking Australian travellers, knocking Far North Queensland off the top spot from last year. Queensland also holds second place with the Gold Coast while Western Australia's Broome joins the list for the first time in third place. Sydney and Melbourne round out the domestic wish list, bumping Hobart out of the top five in 2024.

Top international destinations for 2024

Tried and true destinations continue to be the drawcard for Australian travellers as we return to much-loved global favourites.  For the second year in a row, Bali retained the top spot for the most popular international holiday destination, with Japan a close second and Thailand, Vietnam and Italy rounding out the top five.  For the third year in a row, Italy holds the title for all-time favourite travel destination for Aussies.

Cruising continues to ride popularity wave

As travellers seek both relaxing and bucket-list travel, more Australians than ever are embracing cruise travel with three quarters of respondents (73%) open to exploring a cruise booking in 2024.  Cruise providers are responding to the demand with longer, more bespoke offerings, including the family-focussed Disney Cruises and the ultra-extravagant, adults-only Virgin Voyages Cruise range. Testimony to the growing popularity of cruise travel, more than 70 ships will visit Australia throughout the 23-24 cruise season.

You can access the full Luxury Escapes 2024 Travel Trends Report HERE.

About Luxury Escapes
Luxury Escapes is one of the world's leading luxury travel providers, with more than 7 million members globally. The mobile-first, technology-led online retailer focuses on using technology to create the world's best experiences, from booking to travel.
www.luxuryescapes.com

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For more information, please contact:

Charlie Kaplan, Alt/Shift

charlie@altshift.com.au / 0423 558 34