From safaris through Sub-Saharan Africa to boat rides down the Ganges in India, Australian travellers are more intrepid than ever, trading traditional holiday destinations for adventures in the far reaches of the globe.
Following a surge in adventure and culture-based tours on offer by travel agencies such as Contiki, STA Travel and Intrepid, more Australians are taking an interest in the destinations less travelled.
According to figures released by online travel agency travel.com.au, the top international holiday spots for 2010 are South Africa, India, Croatia and Vancouver in Canada.
The figures are based on the website's bookings in 2009 and inquiries for 2010 and reveal a gravitation to destinations off the beaten track.
"It's a matter of more and more people are travelling overseas these days and I think there are a group of people who always look to go somewhere a little bit more unusual and to step out of the comfort zone," says travel.com.au's brand manager Lisa Ferrari.
"In the past, it was exotic to go on a Contiki tour through Europe but now people see the Europe tour as an entry point and then seek out more unique adventures.
"It's a supply factor as well so there just are more tours and adventure-type travel on offer to consumers."
Ferrari says the agency has seen a 20 per cent increase from last year in interest for South Africa and a 25 per cent increase in interest in Canada, mainly due to cheaper airfares as a result of the global financial crisis, and also because of sporting tournaments such as the football World Cup in Johannesburg and the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
There has also been increased interest in Argentina (23 per cent), Croatia (18 per cent), England (50 per cent) and a 15 per cent increase in interest in India, which Ferrari attributes to the popularity of the Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire and the book Shantaram by Australian writer Gregory David Roberts.
"Those sorts of things really do have an impact on tourism and I think more and more people have kind of gone to India looking to find the places that they read about or that they saw in the movie," says Ferrari.
She says despite the thirst for adventure travel, traditional destinations such as Europe and the Pacific are still popular.
"Our bookings across the board show that people are more interested in international travel and that there are more people travelling. It's not so much that the increases there are at the cost of other countries ... the pot's getting bigger."
The trend is also reflected in figures compiled by Roy Morgan Research, which reveal increased visits to destinations in Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East and our neighbour, New Zealand.
Although it has always been a popular destination, New Zealand is experiencing increased visitation, having marketed itself in recent years as an adventure tourism destination, offering extreme sport experiences such as bungy jumping, river-boarding and abseiling.
According to Roy Morgan Research figures, in the year from October 2008 to September 2009, 585,000 Australians aged 14 and over visited New Zealand.
This is up on the period from April 2000 to March 2001 when, 301,000 Australians travelled across the Tasman.
In 2008/09, 63,000 people had visited Mexico and Central and South America, up from 32,000 in 2000/01.
The United Arab Emirates had 80,000 visitors in 2008/09 as opposed to 24,000, in the year from October 2003 to September 2004 and although Vietnam had 85,000 visitors in the year from April 2006 to March 2007, in 2008/09, it attracted 102,000.
Overnight visits to India have more than tripled while overnight visits to Thailand have almost doubled.
Traditional destinations have enjoyed growth too, with 359,000 Australians aged 14 and over visiting the US in 2008/09, up from 288,000 in 2000/01 while 527,000 people visited the UK in 2008/09 up from 419,000 in 2000/01.
Roy Morgan's international director for tourism, travel and leisure, Jane Ianniello, says Australians are opening up to exotic cultures because our society is becoming more multicultural.
She says surveys have shown that more and more Australians are identifying with their parents' homeland rather than Australia while the percentage of Australians who class themselves as progressive and interested in trying new things has increased - despite an ageing population.
"An increasing percentage of Australians are born overseas, and especially there's been an increase in the percentage born in Asia and New Zealand," says Ianniello.
"More people are coming from overseas and they actually don't identify so strongly with the Australian culture.
"So there's more interest by those people in going back to where they were born or going back to similar cultures.
"It's also that Australia has become a much more multicultural country and even Australians that were born in Australia have been more exposed to different cultures and getting more accepting of different cultures and more interested in different cultures and you find the trends even there among Australians who were born in Australia."
And although cheap airfares have had a part to play, Ianniello believes the push toward adventure and culture-based travel has more to do with Australia opening up and embracing other cultures.
"We've seen a lot of good deals but I think it's a much deeper long term trend. I think it's just a culture shift in Australia and I think that's why domestic tourism has done so poorly over the last ten years," she says.
"People are now eating Thai food they're really embracing Indian food, food from countries other than just China.
"They're searching for, experiencing new cultures and learning about new things."
While such travels will no doubt provide enrichment, education and adventure, there are dangers associated with visiting exotic and far away places.
Aside from the diseases that can be found, there are cultural customs to respect and the threat of terrorism to consider.
In India, for example, the maiming or killing of a cow can attract a punishment of up to five years imprisonment and drugs offences, as in many Southeast Asian countries, can attract the death penalty.
In Islamic countries, modest dress is required and even public displays of affection, including holding hands, are socially unacceptable and have resulted in arrests in the past.
In nearby New Zealand, the adventure tourism industry has already been struck with tragedy and embroiled in trouble, after traveller deaths sparked an investigation into the industry.
In October last year, Prime Minister John Key ordered an investigation into the industry following the drowning death of 21-year-old English tourist Emily Jordan who died while riverboarding in Central Otago.
Other New Zealand deaths include a British man who fell from a boogie board while sand surfing, an English woman who fell 50 metres after losing control of a quad bike, a Chinese woman who became trapped when her jet boat flipped and six Kiwi students and their teacher who were swept away while on a river canyoning trip.
While the adventurous traveller should not be put off, they should be careful and informed.
IF YOU GO:
For travel advisories on each international destination, visit the Department of Foreign Affairs And Trade website http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/.
AAP
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