THE GREAT BARRIER REEF AND ANGKOR WAT REVEALED AS THE BEST VALUE EXPERIENCES OF A LIFETIME FOR AUSSIES, COST COMPARISON STUDY SHOWS

TripAdvisor’s TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime uncovers the cost of taking 10 of the world’s most sought-after trips!

Diving the Great Barrier Reef right here in Australia is the best value experience of a lifetime for Aussies with visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia following closely behind, according to the inaugural TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime, a cost comparison study by travel planning and booking site, TripAdvisor. Whilst exploring the underwater world in the reef or viewing the mesmerising Angkor Wat offers the most value, the study also revealed that travellers planning ahead can save up to 83% on tours and hotels making pricier experiences of a lifetime much more affordable.

TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime, conducted in partnership with independent research firm Kantar TNS, outlines the cost per day for two people to take a trip to experience ten of the world’s most popular once in a lifetime experiences, taking into account the cost of a return flight, return airport transfer, a stay in a four-star hotel, dinner and a day tour of the experience of a lifetime.

The study found that the average price for an experience of a lifetime trip for two across 10 of the most popular choices, is $5,513, with flight prices impacting the total cost significantly from destination to destination. Diving the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns has the lowest cost experience for Aussies with a trip costing $2,109 for two per day, inclusive of the flight, airport transfer and tour. Visiting the Galapagos Islands comes out as the most expensive for Aussies at $12,312.

“This TripIndex price comparison study helps travellers set out lifetime experiences we all dream of and shows that it is possible to achieve them by using TripAdvisor, which can dramatically reduce overall costs by up to 83% with highly-rated hotels and tours that are available for booking,” says TripAdvisor Spokesperson, Joanne Kershaw.

“Travellers interested in holidaying closer to home can also use TripAdvisor to discover destinations and highly-rated bookable experiences that are just as dream-worthy,” she said.

Key findings

It’s cheapest for Aussie travellers to fly to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef but it’s worth bearing in mind that this destination is the second most expensive destination to eat dinner, and the third most expensive destination for a tour.
While going on safari in South Africa isn’t the cheapest experience for Aussies to fly to, Nelspruit is the cheapest destination for hotels and tours. It is also the second cheapest destination for dinner.
When flight prices are excluded, the most affordable experiences of a lifetime for Aussies are visiting Angkor Wat ($362), going on Safari in South Africa ($486) and visiting the Galapagos Islands ($623). In contrast, admiring the Santorini sunset ($1,038), seeing the Northern Lights ($1,081) and trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu ($1,545) are the most expensive.

TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime at a glance

From the least expensive to the most expensive (green and orange indicate least and most expensive destinations for each item respectively):

Experience of a Lifetime	Destination	Flights (per person)	Transfer	Dinner (per person)	Hotel	Tour (per person)	TOTAL (per person)	TOTAL (2 people)
Dive the Great Barrier Reef	Cairns	$396	$50	$61	$164	$490	$1,162	$2,109
Visit Angkor Wat	Siem Reap	$1,029	$18	$18	$103	$223	$1,392	$2,663
Walk the Great Wall of China	Beijing	$842	$47	$46	$133	$463	$1,531	$2,882
Marvel at the wonder of the Taj Mahal	Agra	$1,231	$176	$21	$103	$619	$2,150	$4,022
Visit the Grand Canyon	Phoenix	$1,739	$44	$52	$281	$313	$2,428	$4,531
Go on safari in South Africa	Nelspruit*	$1,924	$169	$19	$101	$197	$2,410	$4,551
Admire the sunset over Santorini	Oia	$2,534	$161	$51	$629	$197	$3,572	$6,355
See the Northern Lights	Reykjavik	$2,746	$354	$97	$371	$259	$3,827	$6,928
Trek the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu	Cusco	$3,009	$27	$36	$309	$1,173	$4,554	$8,772
Visit the Galapagos Islands	Santa Cruz	$5,698	$41	$49	$288	$245	$6,320	$12,312

Make savings when booking an experience of a lifetime trip

Planning on booking an experience of a lifetime trip? These highly rated hotels and tours on TripAdvisor are bookable for up to 83% less than the average TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime price.

Experience of a Lifetime	Stay at	Bookable on TripAdvisor for[i]	Saving against average hotel rate	Experience	Bookable on TripAdvisor from[ii]	Saving against average tour rate
See the Northern Lights	Icelandair Hotel Reykjavik Marina, Reykjavik	$325 per night	12%	Northern Lights Night Tour from Reykjavik	$66 per person	75%
Admire the Sunset over Santorini	Alexander’s Boutique Hotel of Oia, Oia	$371 per night	41%	Oia sunset and traditional villages tour in Santorini	$107 per person	46%
Go on Safari in South Africa	Protea Hotel by Marriot Nelspruit, Nelspruit	$102 per night	Equal	Full-Day Kruger Park Open Vehicle Safari from Hazyview	$86 per person	56%
Walk the Great Wall of China	Rishengchang Hotel, Beijing	$81 per night	39%	Mutianyu Great Wall Hiking Tour from Beijing with Lunch	$79 per person	83%
Marvel at the wonder of the Taj Mahal	PL Palace Lords Inn Agra, Agra	$63 per night	39%	Viator Exclusive: Private Taj Mahal and Agra Fort Tour, Dine with a View and Optional Photographer	$172 per person	72%
Visit Angkor Wat	Popular Residence Hotel, Siem Reap	$58 per night	44%	Angkor Temples Small-Group Tour	$110 per person	51%
See the Grand Canyon	Radisson Hotel Phoenix North, Phoenix	$149 per night	47%	Small-group deluxe Grand Canyon and Sedona day trip	$224 per person	28%
Explore the Galapagos Islands	Cucuve Suites, Puerto Ayora	$223 per night	23%	Full-day Floreana tour	$248 per person	-1%
Trek to Machu Picchu	Sonesta Hotel Cusco, Cusco	$176 per night	43%	Machu Picchu Day Trip from Cusco	$445 per person	62%
Dive the Great Barrier Reef	Half Moon Bay Resort, Cairns	$115 per night	30%	Great Barrier Reef Diving and Snorkelling Cruise from Cairns	$149 per person	70%

For those wanting to holiday nearer home, here are some great experiences to add to the Aussie ‘must do’ list:

Discover Uluru, Northern Territory

Uluru is a surreal monument of red sandstone, located in the Northern Territory. Easily one of Australia’s most recognisable landmarks, it rises 348 meters above the ground, but the bulk of this rock lies underground. Uluru is a very sacred place and for the local Anangu Aboriginal people is a place of great power. Take a tour by helicopter from $150.

Watch the sunset over Cable Beach, Western Australia

Located in Broome, Western Australia, Cable Beach is known around the world for its 22 kilometres of pure white sand, turquoise water, rich red soil and spectacular Indian Ocean sunsets. Explore the beach by camel while watching the sunrise or sunset.

Trek Cradle Mountain, Tasmania

In the Central Highlands region of Tasmania lies Cradle Mountain. The mountain is the fifth highest mountain in Tasmania and is a prominent site, due to its natural beauty. From around $150 per person, you can take a trek through Cradle Mountain exploring a range of various environments. The area is one of the most popular natural areas in Tasmania, discover why for yourself!

Explore the Daintree Rainforest, far North Queensland

In the far North Queensland lies the Daintree Rainforest, Australia’s largest continuous area of tropical rainforest. Spanning over 1,200 kilometres, the region is filled with dense rainforest, mountain ranges, waterfalls and thousands of bird species and wildlife. The rainforest is also estimated to be 180 million years old, tens of millions of years older than the great Amazon rainforest. From $159 you can explore the rainforest from above through the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

Climb the Harbour Bridge, New South Wales

The iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge allows Aussie’s and travellers alike to climb the world’s tallest steel arch bridge and one of the most iconic sites in Sydney. Learn about the bridges fascinating history while climbing to highest heights. Climbing the bridge costs around $158.

Drive the Great Ocean Road, Victoria

Experience one of the world’s most scenic coastal drives along the Great Ocean Road. The road is an Australian National Heritage, 243 kilometres long that spans along the south-eastern coast of Australia. Starting from $130 you can take a drive down the coast in a small group eco-tour, discovering sites that include the Twelve Apostles, Great Otway National Park and Gibson’s Steps.

Tour the Capital city, Canberra

Australia’s capital city is a must-see. Full-day tours are available from Sydney starting from $149. The tours give you the chance to explore the modern and progressive capital city, including attractions such as Parliament House and the National Gallery, which is known for its indigenous art collections.

Relax in the Barossa Valley, South Australia

Recognised on a global scale as one of the world’s greatest wine regions, Barossa Valley is renowned for its food and wine, cultural experiences and easy-going lifestyle. From around $139 Aussies can take day tours around the Barossa Valley, exploring the towns and scenery along the Valley, River Torrens and Adelaide Hills.

-Ends-

Notes to editors:

Methodology

The TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime experiences list is comprised of 10 of the most popular experiences of a lifetime. Most popular experiences of a lifetime were determined based on internal editorial research.

TripIndex Experiences of a Lifetime prices out the cost for the following items in each destination, multiplied by two (where applicable) to represent the daily cost inclusive of return flights and airport transfers for two people.

Return flight: Round trip flight from main airport(s) serving destination, for travel between 1/9/16 – 31/1/17
Airport transfer: Return taxi between destination airport and city centre
Dinner: Starter, main meal and bottle of local beer
Hotel: Accommodation in a 4-4.5-star hotel
Tour: Average cost of bookable day tours for each experience of a lifetime

Research was conducted by Kantar TNS in collaboration with TripAdvisor and prices were collected through telephone and web search as well as from TripAdvisor hotel, tour and fight price data. Prices in each market (except for hotel) were taken in local currencies between August 2016 and October 2016. Prices in each market for hotel were taken in USD. Currency conversion rates were taken from Oanda.com on 4^th October 2016.

Return flights: Prices specify the average cost of a return flight from the main origin destination airport(s) to each experience of a lifetime destination. Pricing displayed is for travel dates between 1 September 2016 to 31 January 2017 based on searches made between 1 August 2016 to 20 October 2016. Weighted average prices were determined using impressions for each itinerary and fare quoted by the respective provider. Origin airports and destination airports list available upon request. Source: TripAdvisor.

Airport transfer: Prices specify the average cost of a return taxi journey between destination airport and a city centre location in each destination city. This includes other transport modes if required (e.g. Santa Cruz ferry + taxi for Galapagos Islands). Source: local website (e.g. taxi company, airport, tourist information).

Dinner: Prices specify the average cost for one person of a starter course/entree, main meal, plus beer at a 4-5-'bubble' rated restaurant on TripAdvisor. Source: Restaurants were randomly selected from TripAdvisor, filtered by 4-5 bubble rating. Prices were obtained from menus on restaurant websites by Kantar TNS. Prices were collected from a minimum of 5 restaurants per destination. Data collected August to September 2016.

Dinner meal items include:

Starter course/entree: Prices recorded for two typical local dishes per restaurant (actual dishes vary by destination).
Main course: Prices recorded for two typical local dishes per restaurant (actual dishes vary by destination).
Beer: Price recorded for one typical beer brand in each destination (price of bottled water used instead of beer for Agra, as beer prices not widely listed).

Hotel: Room rates specify the average cost of one night’s stay in 4 and 4.5 star hotels in each destination. Pricing displayed is for travel dates between 1 September 2016 to 31 January 2017 based on searches made between 1 August 2016 to 20 October 2016, aggregated from booking partners, including online travel agencies and direct hotel suppliers. Source: TripAdvisor.

Tour: Prices specify the average cost for one person of a day tour of each of the experiences of a lifetime. Relevant tours were filtered to bookable tours from Viator. Only tours categorised as a “Day Trip”, “Full-day tour”, “Half-day tour” and “Private Day Trip” were included. Tours were selected if they were listed within the destination ‘locationid’ and included a mention of the experience of a lifetime in their product text. E.g. Tours in the Reykjavik locationid with the mention of “Northern Lights” in their product text were selected for the ‘See the Northern Lights’ experience of a lifetime. Source: TripAdvisor.

[i] Highly rated value hotels in the experiences of a lifetime destinations are 4-4.5 star hotels with a minimum TripAdvisor bubble rating of 4 out of 5. Value hotels were determined using Machine Learning tags. Hotel pricing is for stays between 1 September 2016 to 31 January 2017 based on searches on TripAdvisor made between 1 August 2016 to 20 October 2016, aggregated from booking partners, including online travel agencies and direct hotel suppliers. Prices converted from GBP to AUD at xe.com on 9^th November 2016.

[ii] Highly rated tours for each of the experiences of a lifetime are bookable tours from Viator, categorised as a “Day Trip”, “Full-day tour”, “Half-day tour” or “Private Day Trip”. Prices converted from GBP to AUD at xe.com on 9th November 2016.

*The city of Nelspruit is now known as Mbombela.