New research into Australian's spending habits has found that spending on travel is on the rise, as property feels out of reach amidst an ongoing cost of living crisis and hard to crack property market.
The Future of Travel 2025 report, conducted by Southern Cross Travel Insurance, found that 45% of Australians between 18 to 44 years feel that buying a home is out of reach for them, choosing to shift their spending to experiences instead, such as travel.
In contrast, two in five of the nation's parents aged 45 years and above are spending less on travel.
This is due to forward planning to leave inheritance for their children or grandchildren to help them afford a home or just having less money to use on travel if they have already supported their children or grandchildren financially, which 36% admitted they had done.
Broken down by state's those living in New South Wales were found to be more likely Queenslanders to agree that they are spending less on travel than they would like for the reason of inheritance, coming in at 48% and 32% respectively.
At the end of 2024, when the survey was conducted, the number of Australians travelling remained consistent compared to earlier in the year, but there was a fall in the number of trips taken on average, in both intrastate and interstate travel.
However, 91% of Australians have indicated that they are planning to travel in the next 12 months, with Gen Z and Millennials coming out on top at 59% and 61% comparatively, Gen X at 43% and Baby Boomers at 41%.
Jo McCauley, CEO at SCTI said the research results showed an “interesting contradiction".
“The younger generations seem to be embodying the ‘she’ll be right’ attitude, comfortable to cut their losses when it comes to the housing market in order to seek adventure," she said.
"Whereas their parents are doing the exact opposite in the hopes of saving to contribute to their children's’ housing dreams – a show of sacrifice and resilience by the older generations.
