Australian travel companies, Luxury Escapes, has released its latest annual trend report, Travel 2023, detailing the nation’s views towards travel in 2023.
The report, surveying more than 4000 respondents, reveals Australians are more motivated to book an escape than ever before, with bucket list holidays and immersive tourism experiences a priority as travel tops the discretionary spend list.
Australians’ appetite for travel stronger than ever
Nine in 10 Australians plan to travel either domestically or internationally in 2023 as a truly reopened world brings new levels of desire for travel. Australians are primed for adventure and embracing newfound confidence in the tourism industry with more than half (56.5 per cent) of respondents saying the pandemic has made them more motivated to travel than ever before.
Food and wellness experiences driving motivators for travel in 2023
Australians are motivated to expand their horizons through travel in 2023, engaging with emerging and established tourism trends from wellness to sustainability. For 75 per cent of respondents, leisure and enjoyment rank #1 on reasons for their travel plans in 2023 with more than a quarter (28.75 per cent) of respondents planning a bucket list holiday in this year. The most popular tourism trends are revealed to be food tourism (63.59 per cent), wellness tourism (46.42 per cent) and sustainable travel (29.53 per cent).
Adam Schwab, CEO and co-founder of Luxury Escapes said: “For more than ten years, Luxury Escapes has been sending customers on the world’s best holidays and we couldn’t be more excited about the future of travel. A lot has changed in the last few years, but what hasn’t changed is how we all love to plan incredible holidays and enjoy new experiences. And as the world has changed, the team at Luxury Escapes has spent the last few years working to create the world’s best travel experiences for our 7 million+ members.”
Top domestic destinations for 2023
While Queensland proves to again be the major drawcard for Australians travelling domestically in 2023, Hobart remains high on the travel wish list for those seeking out the city’s unique combination of arts, culture and hospitality.
And, for the first time since Luxury Escapes has released its annual Travel Trends report, Melbourne has surpassed Sydney for a spot in the top five Australian destinations to travel to in the year ahead. The 5 most popular Aussie destinations for travel in 2023 are Tropical Far North Queensland (#1), The Whitsundays & QLD islands (#2), Gold Coast (#3), Hobart (#4) and Melbourne (#5).
Top international destinations for 2023 In 2023, more than half (56.86 per cent) of respondents plan on travelling to a country they haven’t visited before, and 68 per cent are prepared to travel overseas to attend a wedding in 2023.
Indonesia ranks number one on top destinations to travel to in 2023 – riding a massive rise in popularity from the number five spot last year. And while Italy and France rank number one and number two on respondents’ ‘all-time favourite’ destinations list, Bali, Thailand and Hawaii are in close contention, taking out the third, fourth and fifth spots respectively.
Cost no barrier for Australians
For the majority of respondents, travel ranks number one on the discretionary spend list in 2023, with more than half (58 per cent) of respondents saying that cost-of-living pressures have not impacted their travel plans. Two thirds of respondents (60 per cent) said they planned on spending more on travel in 2023 than they did prepandemic with the majority spending more than AUD $10,000 per international holiday.
Schwab added: “We’ve discovered that our changed world has opened up a new appetite for travel like we’ve never seen before. From new hotspot destinations to smarter travel and immersive encounters, our members are seeking out a new normal in travel – one that delivers on experience, quality and value. To meet this demand, we’ve more than doubled the size of our team and created the most exciting suite of products in Luxury Escapes history. From the minute you start planning your trip to the moment you set foot in your destination and beyond, Luxury Escapes is making it easier to have a seamless travel experience, bringing together incredible hotels and resorts, flights, cruises and tours, experiences and more.”
