Australians among world's top travel spenders
The average Australian traveller spends AUD$3,962 on overseas travel according to the latest Visa Global Travel Intentions survey, which ranked Australians as the world's second biggest travel spenders.
According to the survey, Australians spend more than double that of travellers from Asia Pacific and AUD $1662 more than Global norms on overseas travel. Only travellers from Saudi Arabia spent more at $AUD 6,414 per trip.
While Australians may spend more on overseas travel than others globally, getting good value for money is the biggest factor when choosing a travel destination according to the survey. The United States and New Zealand were jointly ranked as the most popular destination choices. Singapore, the UK and Thailand also ranked highly.
"The results of the survey are encouraging in that they show international travel to be a priority which may hint to the strength of the Australian dollar," said Vipin Kalra, Country Manager for Visa in Australia.
A potential reason for high spending Australians is that according to the survey 75% of all overseas trips are for 7 days or longer. And it appears that independent travel is the travel mode of choice with 83% of travellers choosing independent travel over packaged tours (10%).
With the increase in international travel spending, Australians are encouraged to shop around for their travel money before they leave home. Last year, Mozo revealed that Australians are being slugged to the tune of $1.4 Billion by banks and travel money operators for the privilege of spending their money overseas. Compare travel money options on Mozo here.