Soaring Airfares Make Australians Rethink Holiday Plans

While one in three Australians still plans to travel throughout the popular Christmas and summer holidays, the significant increase in international and domestic airfares has put seven million Australians out of planning holidays.

Finder, a price comparison website, recently conducted a study that indicated that 36% of Australians, or around 7.2 million Australians, were discouraged from taking a vacation because of increased airline and other travel expenses.

From April to August of 2022, the ACCC found that the price of economy class tickets had increased by 56% compared to the corresponding time in 2021.

Some causes of the increase in airfare are increased demand for travel, less airline capacity, and higher fuel prices.

For example, a round-trip ticket on Qantas from Sydney to Perth costs $1400 in economy and $4050 in business class.

Return Qantas flights from Sydney to Bangkok cost $3740, while those from Sydney to Tokyo cost $7,000. Return tickets from Brisbane to Tokyo cost $11,000, while return budget flights from Sydney to Auckland cost $3,000.

To those considering a trip to the US, be aware that airfare might be rather pricey. United charges nearly $4,000 for their cheapest economy class and over $17,000 for their cheapest Business class to San Francisco. The lowest round-trip price in economy class to Miami is a little over $7000, with the most expensive round-trip fare in business class costing over $20,000.

Emirates charges just over $5,400 for a round-trip ticket from Sydney to London in Economy Class and $15,400 in Business Class. A round-trip ticket from Sydney to Paris costs $4,773, while a Business Class ticket to Paris costs $14,773.

It’s no surprise that 31% of respondents to a Finder study of more than 1,000 individuals said they had found travel too expensive, with 5% saying they had cancelled vacation plans.

However, 35% of Australians still want to travel over the Christmas break, with 14% going intrastate, 14% staying inside Australia, and 8% going internationally.

As reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 1,040,550 departures in September 2022, an increase of 98,340 from the previous month.