What were Aussie travellers booking in 2023? Flight Centre tells all in new report

Melbourne, Australia: April 12, 2018: Street view of a Flight Centre shop window. Flight Centre is Australia’s largest travel agency selling international flights, holidays and tours. A man walks past.
Edited by Travel Weekly


Flight Centre has come out with some statistical highlights from the last 12 months that marked Australia’s year in travel.

From who booked what to how does it all compare to that period that we prefer not to think about, Flight Centre has spilled all on what its clients are booking.

“While trawling through our year’s data in search of fun facts and intriguing trends, we’ve uncovered some interesting travel patterns that have emerged in 2023,” said Flight Centre global managing director Andrew Stark.

“Now that global travel demand is returning to seasonal patterns, we’re seeing things like a sharp rise in solo-female travellers, Japan returning strongly as a favourite Aussie holiday destination and 4-star accommodation reigning supreme.”

This year’s treasure trove includes these gems:

  • Flight Centre customers bought 1,401,060 flights in 2023
  • The agency sent 3,168 babies on their first flight (with their parents/guardians of course!)
  • The biggest cruise holiday was a cool $312,647
  • The longest hotel booking was for 367 days
  • The total number of rental cars booked was 7,533
  • The three top family holiday spots were Fiji, Hawaii and Cairns
  • Memorable face-palm moments in 2023? One customer was filming a time-lapse from their hotel balcony, the wind got up, and their phone dropped four floors. Another asked us if they could fly from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane… direct.

Check out some more interesting trends from Aussie travellers:

The top 10 global destinations Australians travelled to were:

  1. Melbourne
  2. Sydney
  3. Brisbane
  4. London
  5. Bali
  6. Gold Coast
  7. Perth
  8. Singapore
  9. Adelaide
  10. Auckland

32 per cent of bookings in 2023 were for overseas travel. The top 10 international flight destinations travelled to were:

  1. London
  2. Bali
  3. Singapore
  4. Auckland
  5. Fiji
  6. Tokyo
  7. Athens
  8. Rome
  9. Paris
  10. Bangkok

68 per cent of customers booked domestic travel in 2023. Their Top 10 flight destinations around Australia were:

  1. Melbourne
  2. Sydney
  3. Brisbane
  4. Gold Coast
  5. Perth
  6. Adelaide
  7. Cairns
  8. Hobart
  9. Darwin
  10. Sunshine Coast

Destinations with best bang for your buck:

  • Japan [¥95.14 = A$1]
  • South Africa [R11.95 = A$1]
  • Norway [6.97 kr = A$1]
  • Sweden [6.95 kr = A$1]
  • South Korea [₩861 = A$1]

Women travelling solo were Flight Centre’s most common type of traveller making up around 25 per cent of our customers.

The top 10 destinations they headed to in 2023 were:

  1. London
  2. Bali
  3. Auckland
  4. Athens
  5. Rome
  6. Singapore
  7. Paris
  8. Phuket
  9. Los Angeles
  10. Tokyo

The top 10 family holiday destinations within Australia were:

  1. Cairns
  2. Gold Coast
  3. Port Douglas
  4. Melbourne
  5. Sydney
  6. Adelaide
  7. Perth
  8. Darwin
  9. Hobart
  10. Heron Island

56 per cent of Flight Centre’s family customers travelled to international destinations. The top 10 overseas holiday destinations were:

  1. Fiji
  2. Hawaii
  3. Bali
  4. Japan
  5. Vanuatu
  6. Maldives
  7. Phuket
  8. Norfolk Island
  9. London
  10. Queenstown

The top 10 international destinations visited by couples were:

  1. UK
  2. Italy
  3. US
  4. Bali
  5. New Zealand
  6. France
  7. Singapore
  8. Greece
  9. Phuket
  10. Spain

The top 10 domestic destinations visited by couples were:

  1. Cairns
  2. Gold Coast
  3. Port Douglas
  4. Adelaide
  5. Melbourne
  6. Darwin
  7. Sydney
  8. Hobart
  9. Perth
  10. Hamilton Island, Whitsundays

The top 10 holiday destinations were:

  1. Fiji
  2. Hawaii
  3. Cairns
  4. Tokyo
  5. Phuket
  6. Hakuba, Japan
  7. Bali
  8. Gold Coast
  9. The Maldives
  10. Vanuatu

Which destinations is Flight Centre picking to be Aussies travellers’ top spots in 2024? – behind London, of course, which has always reigned supreme:

  1. Singapore
  2. Bali
  3. Auckland
  4. Fiji
  5. Hawaii
  6. Tokyo
  7. Dubai
  8. Phuket
  9. Bangkok
  10. Rome

Find more about Flight Centre’s ‘Year In Travel’ report here.

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