The latest Roy Morgan data has revealed domestic trips continue to be at the heart of how Australians travel.

The data shows 57 per cent of Australians are planning a domestic trip in the next 12 months (up from 52 per cent a year ago).

Typically, when consumer confidence is high, or increasing, travel and travel intentions also increase. However, Roy Morgan said this pattern was disrupted during the pandemic – when travel and travel plans were put on hold despite strong consumer confidence.

Since October 2022, travel intentions have bounced back despite low levels of consumer confidence.

Roy Morgan Head of Travel & Tourism Adele Labine-Romain said: “Australians have always possessed a deep-seated wanderlust, and these figures confirm our enduring passion for travel.

"While economic factors and confidence levels have certainly been influencing travel decisions for some, the desire to explore remains strong showing a promising future for travel.

“While the percentage of Australians intending to take a holiday overseas continues to increase – now at 5.2 million (23 per cent of Australians, up five percentage points from a year ago), domestic travel pursuits remain the mainstay of how Australians travel whether discovering new places or returning to familiar spots, with 13 million Australians planning a domestic holiday over the next 12 months.”

In calendar year 2024 Australians embarked on 11.5 million overseas trips, rebounding to above 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Looking month-on-month, in January 2024, the number of trips were back to 2019 levels and by January 2025 trips were up 11 per cent on January 2024.

However, the growth in trips was largely driven by population growth, so on a per capita basis, overseas travel has not quite returned to pre-pandemic levels. Australia’s population increased by almost 1.9 million people between 2019 and September 2024

The travel intention data comes from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with more than 60,000 Australians each year.