Wotif and TripAdvisor surveys show Australians still love to travel in a weak dollar climate

While the Australian Dollar might have lifted this week to 72.38 cents, it’s still significantly down from this time last Christmas when it was around 82 cents. That won’t be stopping the nation from travelling abroad in 2016, travel sites Wotif and TripAdvisor reported.

In fact, in a recent survey of Australians conducted by Wotif, 50% are bargain hunting for an overseas trip next year, and 22% are considering booking a travel package to save money.

“The cost of Summer holidays can add up as people are travelling further afield in search of a beach or city break, but a Summer trip doesn’t have to break the bank,” said Janice Lee Fang, TripAdvisor’s Communications Director, Asia Pacific in a statement.

According to TripAdvisor, some beach breaks are reasonably priced. For example, it costs AU$157 dollars on average to stay in Bali for a night and only AU$14 for a meal. Compare that to a city break in London, where the average nightly hotel cost will set you back AU$327 and AU$45 to eat out.

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Spokesperson for Wotif, Kim Stockham said in a statement that if you’re jetsetting overseas, it’s a good idea to pick places where you can get good value for your Aussie dollars.

“For family trips, we suggest heading to Fiji where you’ll find resorts for all budgets or travel across the ditch to New Zealand,” she said. 

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The Wotif survey also found the top of the bucket list of destinations for Aussies in 2016 is the USA, then New Zealand. And for people who browse their website, TripAdvisor found they have been searching Bali, Hong Kong, then Honolulu the most to get the best deals. 

If you’re planning a dream trip for 2016, with the Aussie dollar climbing to over US72 cents, now’s a good time to lock in the exchange rate on prepaid cards. Compare deals here.