REVEALED: The top destinations on Aussie travellers’ wish lists

Aerial view of The Gold Coast strip, Queensland, Australia

Despite the lockdowns and restrictions, new research has found that Aussies are still dreaming about travel possibilities.

Delving into the thousands of local travel wish lists created by hopeful travellers on its platform over the last two months, Booking.com has shared some of the top destinations and properties on Aussies’ minds as restrictions ease in each state.

Since Australian travel restrictions began in March, the top wish-listed destinations for Aussies are still traditional favourites of Indonesia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and even Italy, which plans to open its borders to Europeans as early as June.

According to Booking.com, this highlights that Australians are not deterred from travelling to “the countries worst affected by the pandemic”.

Despite the potential for a trans-Tasman bubble, New Zealand placed sixth on wish Aussie traveller wish lists.

But while international destinations like Bali, London and Tokyo continue to inspire travel dreams for people across the country, Booking.com has found domestic stays feature heavily on Aussies’ wish lists.

At least 49 per cent of all Australian wish lists feature domestic experiences – a jump from the same time last year when domestic properties accounted for less than a third (28 per cent) of wish lists.

Additionally, the most wish-listed accommodation for Australians are hotels, followed by apart-hotels and apartments.

Apart-hotels account for 15 per cent of all properties wish-listed by Australians over the last two months – noticeably higher than the global average of five per cent.

Check out the top 10 most wish-listed international, domestic and local destinations for Australians below:

International:

  1. Indonesia
  2. United States of America
  3. Thailand
  4. United Kingdom
  5. Japan
  6. New Zealand
  7. Italy
  8. Greece
  9. Vietnam
  10. France

Domestic:

  1. Gold Coast
  2. Cairns
  3. Byron Bay
  4. Port Douglas
  5. Noosa Heads
  6. Airlie Beach
  7. Newcastle
  8. Mooloolaba
  9. Coffs Harbour
  10. Port Macquarie

Local:

  1. Melbourne
  2. Sydney
  3. Gold Coast
  4. Brisbane
  5. Perth
  6. Adelaide
  7. Cairns
  8. Byron Bay
  9. Port Douglas
  10. Canberra

Featured image: iStock/shannonstent

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