Aussies still heading OS despite weak $A: Webjet

The falling Aussie dollar isn’t stopping Australians from flying overseas.

In fact they’re travelling more: for shorter periods and to new destinations.

Cheaper airfares mean locals are willing to brave going overseas more often without feeling they have to cram the itinerary, says online travel company Webjet’s managing director John Guscic.

“Rather than taking one long trip we’re seeing multiple trips overseas and instead of doing one trip for three or four weeks you might do two 10-day trips instead,” he told AAP.

His comments came as Webjet reported a 17 per cent jump in first-half profit.

Mr Guscic said the Aussie dollar’s weakness against the greenback and the euro had only propelled Japan and China to the top of must-travel lists for Australian travellers.

“The Australian dollar has had no impact on Australians’ propensity to travel,” he said.

“What we are seeing instead is that people are being more judicious about where they go and are looking for value, so all it’s changed is the destination that they want to travel to.”

More people are also willing to take up experience-based holidays or try venturing off the beaten path.

“Instead of just going to Bali, you might go to Cambodia. Instead of going to Thailand, you might be going to Burma,” Mr Guscic said.

The trends helped Webjet book a pumped-up half-year profit of $10.1 million on Thursday.

More site visitors and international bookings boosted webjet.com.au and its Asian sister site Zuji’s earnings.

Total transaction values – the amounts customers pay for travel – rose 22 per cent to $608 million in the six months to December 31, with earnings up the same to $56.5 million.

With market growth across all its four digital, retail and wholesale businesses, the company has reiterated its full year earnings target of $33.5 million.

Momentum has also continued into the second half with sales up more than 30 per cent and the company anticipating more profits from its wholesale, business-to-business hotel bookings operations.

The LotsofHotels and SunHotels brands, based in the Middle East and Africa and Europe, respectively, lifted revenue $46.7 per cent to $17.3 million in the first half.

Webjet shares climbed 50 cents, or 9.6 per cent, to $5.71.

WEBJET CAPITALISES ON WANDERLUST

* Net profit up 17pct to $10.1m

* Revenue up 27 pct to $74.5m

* Interim dividend up 0.25 cents to 6.5 cent fully franked

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

Latest comments

John McDonald says:
February 19, 2016 at 10:38 am
wish someone would pull up webjet on their dodgy claims. They don’t offer all choices of airlines on their website.
Most of the airfares we sell, can’t even be found ANYWHERE online. As most agents know, there are plenty of airfares that can’t be found online & they are often the cheapest.
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