Broadsheet’s inaugural travel insights report, Well Travelled, has revealed a shift toward slower, more considered travel amid global uncertainty with advisor recommendations outweighing those from AI.
The consumer report is based on two audience surveys conducted six weeks apart, the first in mid-March, canvassing travel attitudes, behaviours and decision-making, and a follow-up pulse survey in late April tracking how those six weeks had changed things.
Well Travelled builds on Broadsheet’s expansion into travel content, following the launch of a dedicated travel newsletter and the appointment of inaugural travel editor Nadia Bailey. The publisher took its Melbourne-born operation international one year ago with the launch of Broadsheet London.
The survey found 84 per cent of respondents consider travel essential to their wellbeing, while 75 per cent prefer open itineraries over rigid planning. Global uncertainty is reshaping destination choices, with 79 per cent reconsidering where they travel and 33 per cent booking later to preserve flexibility. Crowds are also a growing deterrent, with 72 per cent avoiding destinations that feel overly touristy.
Food emerged as a key motivator, with 78 per cent seeking food and drink experiences when choosing a destination, and 55 per cent preferring to explore neighbourhoods over ticking off major landmarks. Human expertise also retains an edge over artificial intelligence, with 65 per cent trusting human recommendations over algorithms and 58 per cent turning to publications for inspiration, compared with just 14 per cent who turn to AI.
Cultural reset
Broadsheet group strategy manager Tri Nguyen, who led the research, said the shift reflected a broader cultural reset.
“After years of cramming in everything we missed, we’ve shifted to going somewhere to return to ourselves,” Nguyen said. Nguyen added that despite rising costs and shifting flight routes, Australians were not travelling less, just differently: “They’re just going closer to home, slower and with a much clearer sense of what’s worth it.”
Bailey, who has written on culture and travel for titles including Gourmet Traveller and Vogue Living, echoed the sentiment. “Travel gives us the opportunity to put the grind on pause and focus on discovery and connection,” Bailey said.
Broadsheet commercial director Christina Voss said the findings pointed to an opportunity rather than a slowdown for brand partners.
“Audiences haven’t stopped travelling, they’ve just become far more discerning,” Voss said.
What it means for advisors
The findings reinforce a case that advisors have been making for some time: personalisation and human judgement remain hard to replicate at scale. With two-thirds of respondents favouring human recommendations over algorithmic ones, and AI cited by only a small fraction as a source of inspiration, the data suggests advisers are still well placed against direct-to-AI planning tools, provided they lean into curation rather than compete on convenience alone.
The preference for open itineraries, later bookings and less touristy destinations also points to demand for advisers comfortable designing flexible, off-the-beaten-path trips rather than fixed packages. And with food and neighbourhood-level experiences outranking landmark-ticking, there may be an opening for advisors to build closer relationships with boutique and experiential operators, rather than relying solely on traditional sightseeing itineraries to sell a destination.
