Summer’s over, but local travel still reigns supreme
Australians’ hunger to travel hasn’t waned with the arrival of cooler weather. If anything, they are lining up getaways close to home and further afield to get them through the winter months
A survey Time Out conducted in Q1 found Australian readers still have their sights set on a domestic holiday destination. The January 2021 survey found that 39 per cent of readers are planning to travel domestically, and ten per cent are keen to travel as far from home as possible.
Last year, we revealed that Time Out readers are big fans of road trips and value natural attractions, experiences and quality of accommodation at their domestic destinations above all else. Observing traffic trends of the best performing travel content from the past summer, it’s clear that our audience has not stopped dreaming about the great outdoors, whether they’re looking for day trip ideas near Melbourne or if they’re planning a longer getaway around NSW.
With this in mind, we have teamed up recently with both Destination New South Wales (DNSW) and Visit Victoria on great campaigns to further encourage Australians to hit the open road and discover the diverse landscapes on our doorstep. Visit Victoria’s ‘Stay Close, Go Further’ campaign so perfectly encapsulates Time Out’s exploration ethos that we’ve added our content campaign with the tourism body on Time Out Melbourne’s navigation bar, which links to a custom hub of top road trip recommendations all over Victoria
Likewise, Time Out’s collaboration with DNSW builds upon Time Out editors’ coverage of NSW’s hottest travel destinations by highlighting areas made for local getaways including a visitors’ guide to Newcastle and a how-to guide to a weekend trip in the Hunter Valley.
A big 34 per cent of respondents to Time Out’s Q1 travel survey say they would plan trips “a couple of weeks before departure”, while 21 per cent say they would make travel plans “a couple of months before departure”, depending on how far away the destination is. So whatever the season, it’s never too early to start planting seeds of travel inspiration.
If you are looking for solutions on how to speak to a travel-loving audience, get in touch with Time Out Managing Director elise.bucholtz@timeout.com.