Travel costs are soaring – here’s how you can still holiday for less

For decades, travelling has been one of Australia’s favourite pastimes. We love to take gap years, swap our winters for European summers and swap our summers for the northern hemisphere’s ski season.

During school holidays, short breaks in South East Asia are a must and an end of year trip to Japan is becoming increasingly popular – to the point of almost being a problem in some areas.

What I’m really trying to say is that when it comes to using our annual leave, and using it well, it’s fair to say that we’re surely up there with the best of them. But all of that travel is becoming increasingly expensive, even though it doesn’t necessarily have to.

According to the latest consumer price index data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the 12 months between November 2024 and November 2025, Australians took 12.5 million trips overseas – that’s a growth rate of almost 9 per cent from the previous year.

The most popular places to get our passports stamped were Indonesia, which saw a total of 1.76 million Aussies visit, followed by New Zealand (1.44 million), Japan (939,340) and the United States (726,530).

These four destinations also happened to be the top four from the year before, as well, which suggests we’re heavily influenced and easily inspired by all of those lush happy snaps we see friends and family post on social media.

Maybe that local holiday is best taken when the rest of the country is off overseas, and the overseas holiday is saved for a less busy time.

Japan, which has been a must-visit destination among Australians for a few years now, saw a 14 per cent rise in visitors over the 12-month period, while Vietnam, which was visited by 511,280 Aussies, grew in popularity by 17 per cent. The United States, which had 726,530 visitors, only saw a drop of 1 per cent in visitors, meaning it remained among the top 10 places we’re choosing to fly to.

In terms of the memories made and cultural experiences, these overseas holidays can’t be measured. But in dollar terms, they definitely can.

And what’s especially interesting when looking at when and where we take our well-deserved breaks is what the latest ABS consumer price index data for December says. There, we can see that over just that one single month, the price of international travel for Australians rose by a whopping 24.4 per cent.

Research from ING shows the average amount spent on a two-week-long international holiday is now $7310. Of this, a little over half of all travellers (54 per cent), said they’ve begun spending more on their recent trips, with airfares accounting for roughly 27 per cent of their total budget ($1973). That comes in ahead of accommodation, food and dining and activities.

But if you were to book those flights in December, the airfare would likely have set you back almost $500 more, costing $2447 per person. If you were to keep to the same budget, those flights would suddenly eat up 33 per cent of your total spending and take a decent chunk out of what you’ve set aside for activities or on meals out – easily the very best parts of any holiday! But finding an extra $474 for every traveller isn’t exactly an easy ask, either, especially if you’re travelling as a family.

All of this brings me to how you can continue to go on holiday without breaking the bank, and potentially even saving money in the process.

Though November marked the strongest monthly year-on-year growth in 2025 for aviation, combined, Australian airlines expected to collectively fly more than 13 million passengers around the country during the busy end-of-year period. That’s following 5.5 million Australians who took domestic trips throughout the month of October alone – the second-highest month since January 2019.

Given how many of us travel to see family and friends over the school holidays, Christmas and New Year holiday period, this price jump – no matter how unwelcome – is hardly surprising.

When we get down to brass tacks, domestically, ABS data shows that while spending on holiday travel and accommodation within Australia rose by 8.2 per cent between November 2024 and November 2025, for the month of December specifically, the price of domestic flights lifted by about 10 per cent.

While that’s still a big jump, 10 per cent of an airfare that’s usually no more than a few hundred dollars is a lot more palatable than 24 per cent on almost $2000.

In other words, maybe that local holiday is best taken when the rest of the country is heading overseas, and the overseas holiday is saved for a less busy – and much cheaper – time of year.

I’m yet to meet anyone who doesn’t have a bucket list of places they want to go in Australia. So why not pull out that list and get planning to go somewhere either interstate or even closer by, and put what you save towards that next overseas holiday?

Another option to save on overseas trips, outside of trying to fly during off-peak periods (which isn’t always possible for a lot of us with school-aged children), is to go outside the most popular destinations.

Places like Sri Lanka, Fiji, Samoa, the Cook Islands, and Turkey are all becoming increasingly popular destinations for Australians. Flights run from major cities regularly, and tourism in these countries is already in place and well set up. And in the age of social media, finding recommendations, reviews, and insider tips on what to do when you’re there has never been easier.

If there’s one thing that’s a guarantee, it’s that none of us have any intention to stop travelling any time soon. And we shouldn’t have to!

But rather than having to shell out more money or scrimp in other areas just so that we can get there, we can decide to travel smarter, not necessarily harder on our wallets.

Victoria Devine is an award-winning retired financial adviser, a bestselling author and host of Australia’s No.1 finance podcast, She’s on the Money. She is also founder and director of Zella Money.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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