STUDY: Almost half of older Aussies say they will never cruise again

Corridor on a cruise ship
By Alexandra Coulton


New research has revealed that almost half of Australia’s Baby Boomers will never go on a cruise holiday again.

A new report from PayPal Australia on travel and tourism trends has uncovered that, overall, 34 per cent of Australians said they will never go on a cruise holiday after what they’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Older Aussies are even more deterred, with 49 per cent saying they will never go on a cruise holiday again.

The stats are based on a survey of consumers and businesses in Australia from the first week of June to get an insight into consumer’s travel plans and attitudes towards travelling both now and once restrictions lift.

The good news from this research is that more than half of us (65 per cent) are already comfortable with travelling within their state, and 70 per cent predict they will feel comfortable travelling interstate before the end of the year.

So, now might be a good time to get in touch with clients to offer a domestic alternative to the international trip they had to cancel this year.

Queenslanders are the most comfortable travelling domestically, with 76 per cent already comfortable travelling within Queensland and nearly one-in-three Queenslanders (29 per cent) already comfortable travelling interstate, compared to just 5 per cent of South Australians who are currently comfortable to travel interstate.

After months of lockdown, which included homeschooling for many of us, Aussies are keen on some seaside relaxation with beachside holidays topping the list (36 per cent) of places they would like to visit.

Gen Z (45 per cent) and Gen X (39 per cent) the keenest to hit the coast again.

For older Australians, however, a holiday to a country town the top pick, with 33 per cent of Baby Boomers wanting to escape to the country for their first domestic getaway.

Gen Y (16 per cent) are also twice as likely to be heading to a natural wonder such as Uluru, compared to the average (eight per cent).

Overall, Australians are most likely to go on a family holiday (40 per cent) or a short stay holiday (38 per cent) for their first domestic jaunt.

However, only four per cent said they would be comfortable heading overseas at this time.

That four per cent doesn’t include the proposed trans-Tasman bubble, though, with 20 per cent of Aussies indicating they would be comfortable to travel to New Zealand and 10 per cent saying they would travel to the Pacific Islands.

Despite almost a quarter of those surveyed showing love for New Zealand, only seven per cent said they’d rather head to the Land of the Long White Cloud instead of staying in Australia.

Just over a quarter of Aussies (26 per cent) said they don’t expect to feel comfortable travelling overseas until 2022 or later and five per cent said they will never be comfortable travelling overseas again.

Featured image source: iStock/mustafagull

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