Two-thirds (66%) of Australian travellers aged 50 and over are opting out of overcrowded cities and soaring costs and driving the travel trend towards lesser-known destinations.
Here’s what travel advisors should know about the shift in preference and where these travellers are headed in 2025 and beyond.
The new Insure&Go survey found 66 per cent of Aussies over 50 plan to seek out quieter, lesser-known destinations in the next two years as overtourism and costs increasingly inform travel decisions for this demographic.
Three in five (61%) of respondents aged over 50 are less inclined now, than five years ago, to travel to popular tourist destinations due to overcrowding and high prices.
In fact, 58 per cent are putting less-travelled international destinations on their holiday list over the next two years.
One in five (20%) plan to avoid popular hotspots altogether in the next two years and focus exclusively on lesser-known destinations.
Just 34 per cent of over-50s would only travel to destinations such as Rome, Tokyo and Paris in the next two years with 24 per cent saying they will bypass popular hotspots entirely.
So what’s on their radar? Small towns with a rich cultural heritage came out on top with 58 per cent of over-50s keen to visit the likes of emerging European destinations such as Ronda in Spain, Matera in Italy or Kotor in Montenegro.
Remote nature destinations (35%), lesser-known beach destinations (38%) and emerging cities with vibrant local scenes (33%) followed in preference by over-50s, however, these areas were more popular among Aussies aged under 50.
