It’s no secret that the Covid-inspired closure of international borders sparked an unprecedented interest in domestic travel … and all the signs are that it may take a while for it to settle down again.
Certainly, the overall enthusiasm for overseas adventures has been tempered by the pandemic.
A new survey released by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) and the Australian Government’s Smartraveller website shows there is an atmosphere of caution among many of those thinking about heading to the international departures lounge.
The 2022 Quantum Market Research survey canvassed 1,000 Australians, who had either booked or were actively planning an overseas trip in coming months … and the findings were revealing.
'Bali can wait ... we've got a few caravanning adventures to get through first!'. PIC: Jannet Serhan / Pexels
Presumably in response to being unable to travel during 2020 and 2021, some 70% of all respondents said they were planning to travel more often in the future.
However, 68% said that the pandemic had made them feel less confident about travelling overseas, and 86% said they would be more cautious about travelling to places where it could prove harder to get back to Australia in a crisis.
Back in August, the Caravan Industry Association of Australia’s ‘Caravan Industry Consumer Sentiment Report’ also showed that consumers were still cautious about international holidays, cruising, and city breaks.
It said that even though international borders had reopened, 56% of respondents had no plans to travel internationally.
However, the research revealed that Australians’ affinity for caravan and camping remained strong, with 79% of respondents actively planning to go caravan and camping in the next six months.
Although the survey was conducted several months ago, it found that inflation and other household financial pressures had already started to make consumers recalibrate the factors they considered when making travel decisions.
The report found that in order to mitigate rising pressures on budgets, travellers were increasingly adopting strategies such as staying longer in one place and travelling shorter distances.
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Makes no sense to “see Australia first” before travelling overseas.
We did do a couple of laps and then decided it was smarter to head overseas while our health was good and save the rest of Australia until we were old and on our last legs.
So next 10 years were spent exploring 35 countries in several different motorhomes in greater Europe and North and South America.
Covid hit and Betty ended up in a wheelchair so that was the end of our overseas adventures, but certainly not the end of our adventures. Bought yet another bus and converted it into a a wheelchair-friendly motorhome and we are still on the road. Just completed 200 nights on the road and didn’t spend one night in a paid campground.
I guess the very reluctant next step will be a nursing home spending our time reliving our adventures by watching the 120,000++ photos we took over our 20++ years on the road
BUT not yet for a few more years
With a 20 – 25% infection factor when travelling o/s, the stay home attitude is of value, particularly for we older but not yet geriatric travellers. The floating cesspit/s have shown the frailties recently