New Zealand voted most desirable holiday by Australians

New research by Roy Morgan Research has found that 10.6 per cent of Australians are planning an overseas holiday and 18 per cent of those have plans to head to New Zealand – making a trip ‘across the ditch’ our most desirable destination.

However, it wasn’t all good news for the Kiwis. Australians wanting to travel to the country had actually dropped from 19.5 per cent from 10 years ago.

The second most desirable travel spot for Aussies was the USA, with 17.8 per cent of people with travel plans intending on holidaying there. England came in at third with 13.6 per cent. However, 10 years ago the UK was Australians most desirable destination at 20.2 per cent.

Japan was another winner, with the proportion of intending holiday-goers planning to visit rising from 6.1 per cent to 9.1per cent. Indonesia has also seen its popularity more than double – thanks primarily to interest in Bali – and is now on the itinerary of 8.5 per cent of Aussies planning an overseas holiday (up from 4.0 per cent).

England and New Zealand aren’t the only international destinations that have lost ground over the past decade. Holiday intention to Thailand, France and Italy has also slipped, as the table above shows.

Commenting on the study, Roy Morgan’s industry communications director, Norman Morris, said: “While the proportion of Australians intending to take an overseas holiday has increased by more than 75 per cent over the last 10 years, intention has dropped off for several historically popular destinations. In fact, among the 10 countries featured here, only the US, Japan and Indonesia are more popular with Aussies planning a holiday than they were in 2006.

“At a continental level, Roy Morgan data shows that overall European holiday intention has slipped while Asian holiday intention has risen—but it’s certainly not as cut and dried as that. Some European countries (Switzerland, Austria, Greece and the Netherlands, for example) feature in the holiday plans of more Aussies now than they did 10 years ago. And some Asian countries have lost ground (Hong Kong and China, to name two).

“Although New Zealand figures in the itineraries of 18% of Australians planning an overseas holiday, topping the list for international travel destinations, it was more popular10 years ago. It should be noted, however, that holiday intention to New Zealand bottomed out over the 2012-2013 period (at 13.6%), and has since turned around,” he said.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Latest comments

John McDonald says:
October 19, 2016 at 3:33 pm
interesting photo of NZ sheep …
New Zealand where men are men & sheep are scared, especially any around the All Blecks
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John McDonald says:
October 19, 2016 at 1:15 pm
forget that. USA by far now that it’s so cheap, especially skiing in Colorado in JAN/FEB. Lift tickets from US$20(AUD$27) for an adult & up to 4 kids, with lift line priority. On snow hotel rooms from US$146(AUD$190) with 2 queen beds. If family of 2 adults & 2 kids stay in a hotel room, that’s less than AUD$48/person/night.
Also cheap to get from LAX to DEN, with fares on Southwest, the best U.S. airline by far, for US$44(AUD$58) one way inc up to 46kgs checked baggage & they even give you snacks.
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