TripAdvisor Identifies Travel Trends for Winter

Sydney, Australia – June 6, 2014 – When it comes to travel planning, most Australians start three to four months in advance1. TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site*, has revealed the travel trends for Australian travellers according to their searches2 on the site for the winter holidays. The results: for upcoming trips, Australians prefer to explore their home country, stay in four and five star hotels, and are most interested in the outdoors, sightseeing and cultural experiences for their winter holidays.

Interest to travel within Australia continues to rise

In positive news for the local industry, domestic destinations including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have claimed the top three spots as most searched destinations (up 12%, 24% and 26% respectively from the same time last year).

Most searched domestic destinations by Australians

1. Sydney

2. Melbourne

3. Brisbane

4. Perth

5. Adelaide

6. Surfers Paradise

7. Cairns

8. Hobart

9. Port Douglas

10. Darwin

Most searched international destinations by Australians

1. Bali

2. Paris

3. Singapore

4. New York

5. London

6. Honolulu

7. Hong Kong

8. Bangkok

9. Rome

10. Las Vegas

Internationally, Australians are interested in a mix of tropical and metropolitan destinations with Bali, Paris, Singapore, New York and London all ranking amongst the most popular.

Melbournians chose Bali as their preferred international destination, craving its tropical weather while travellers from the warmer climates of Sydney and Brisbane picked Paris and New York respectively.

Most searched destinations by Melbourne

1. Sydney

2. Hobart

3. Bali

4. Paris

5. New York

Most searched destinations by Sydney

1. Melbourne

2. Paris

3. New York

4. London

5. Honolulu

Most searched destinations by Brisbane

1. Cairns

2. Surfers Paradise

3. Sydney

4. Melbourne

5. Noosa

Love the outdoors but are creatures of comfort

Australians are an active bunch with one-quarter of searches on outdoor activities, followed by sightseeing (13%) and cultural activities (12%). However when it comes to their preferred type of accommodation, hotels with a four or five star ranking are by far the most researched.

“The trends reflect what the Australian TripAdvisor community is looking for in a winter holiday – adventure, culture and unique experiences. For those planning a trip to any of these popular locations, visit the TripAdvisor Destination pages, a great resource that will allow you to check out top-rated hotels, restaurants and attractions, as well as the weather and maps. With all the information at their fingertips, travellers can plan and have the perfect trip,” said TripAdvisor spokesperson, Scott Wegener.

1 The TripBarometer study, by TripAdvisor, is based upon an online survey conducted from 14 February to 10 March 2014, conducted by Ipsos, a global research firm. A total of 61,007 interviews were completed in 32 markets, spanning 7 regions, including 2,114 respondents in Australia. More information: www.tripadvisor.com.au/tripbarometer.

2 The findings in this study are based on searches by Australian travellers carried out on TripAdvisor in March and April 2014. The destinations, attraction categories and star-ratings listed in this study here are those which were most-searched, according total number of user sessions, by Australian travellers in March and April 2014