Inside the unlikely Aussie destination dubbed ‘the new Bali’ as holidaymakers
An unlikely travel destination has emerged as a fan favourite among Australians.
Travel company Skyscanner released an international report on Wednesday, looking into the state of travel 13 months after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
With locations like Bali and Thailand unreachable for Australians amid an international travel ban, an unlikely candidate has emerged as the winner.
Alice Springs is now one of the most popular destinations.
The small town in the Northern Territory is rivalling more traditional holiday places like the Gold Coast, Cairns and the Whitsundays and has been dubbed the new Bali.
It comes as earlier this month experts predicted that international travel will remain impossible until 2024.
Alice Springs is in the top three trending travel destinations for the coming winter – behind Proserpine and Hamilton Island, both located in the Whitsundays.
Australians are “trading destinations like Phuket and Bali” for more local getaways like Alice Springs, according to the new report.
The Northern Territory’s capital is also pulling in visitors, with Darwin also ranking highly.
It has become the new Milan and Athens – which were the second most visited locations respectively for couples and groups in 2019.
Darwin has now taken that title.
Queensland is still number one on the holiday to do list.
The far north Queensland town of Cairns, off the coast of the Great Barrier reef, is the top travel destination for everyone in Australia – groups, families and couples alike.
The Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Darwin, Port Douglas, the Whitsundays, Hobart, Broome, Townsville and Port Douglas followed closely behind.
That’s compared to 2019, when locations including Rome, Phuket, Koh Samui, Milan, Santorini, Nadi Fiji, New Delhi, Athens, Venice and Las Vegas dominated the itineraries of Australian travellers.
Both in 2019 and 2021, the Gold Coast ranked highly.
In 2019, the Gold Coast was the second most visited holiday destinations for families and the third most visited for groups, out of any destination in the world.
This year, it has retained those positions.
That’s despite the Queensland government calling for an extension to JobKeeper after its tourism industry was hit hard by the pandemic.
The top nine trending search destinations for all Australian travellers
- Proserpine (Whitsundays)
- Hamilton Island
- Alice Springs
- Broome
- Darwin
- Hobart
- Cairns
- Adelaide
- Gold Coast
Top destinations for families:
- 2019: Phuket. 2021: Cairns.
- 2019: Gold Coast. 2021: Gold Coast.
- 2019: Nadi Fiji. 2021: Hamilton Island.
- 2019: New Delhi. 2021: Sunshine Coast.
- 2019: Koh Samui. 2021: Port Douglas.
Top destinations for couples:
- 2019: Rome. 2021: Cairns.
- 2019: Milan. 2021: Darwin.
- 2019: Santorini. 2021: Hobart.
- 2019: Venice. 2021: Broome.
- 2019: Las Vegas. 2021: Hamilton Island.
Top destinations for groups.
- 2019: Denpasar. 2021: Cairns.
- 2019: Athens. 2021: Darwin.
- 2019: Gold Coast. 2021: Gold Coast.
- 2019: Cairns. 2021: Proserpine.
- 2019: Split. 2021: Townsville.
Skyscanner surveyed more than 1000 Australians over the course of 13 months for the report’s findings.
Internationally, only 23 per cent of travel bookings are for domestic holidays, despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic across the world.
With the UK’s lockdown over, British citizens are already planning their next overseas trip.
Greece is overwhelmingly their destination of choice, according to the report.
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