Millennials and Australia domestic tourism: How much does a holiday at home really cost?

There's been a big focus around young travellers and their travel habits over the past few years, and even more so now in a pandemic. As a millennial, reading about it has evoked everything from "I don't care" to wanting to pick at every statistic.

There's always new research, a new trend, a new fad, that sheds a new light on being "millennial". Mostly we are told we're ego-focused, Instagram-hungry travellers who don't like to "rough it". But among the insights, there is some more flattering research that claims we're more socially and environmentally aware as a collective age-group - one that has grown up recycling and watching pro-environment cartoons like Widget and Captain Planet.

Travel is arguably ego-focused for anyone at any age. After all, the very nature of travel is to pursue enjoyment, self-learning and pleasure. And while millennials are all on Instagram; we don't live by it. We have jobs and professions and yes, we do rough it when we travel. I've stayed in a 12-person dorm for less than $15 a night and have used many squat toilets with various things floating in them. But of course, we prefer to have a nice holiday, like everyone else, if we can.

It comes as no surprise each time I read a story on millennials holding out on booking domestic travel, waiting for international borders to open so their savings can provide more value per dollar. It makes perfect financial sense; more bang for your buck. After all, it's what we keep being told to do - save.

But, even so, the truth is millennials are actually spending their hard-earned cash on domestic travel. Just ask us. Or you can check on Instagram. I've booked and planned three trips so far – Mt Irvine in June, Nelson Bay and Berry in July, and the Snowy Mountains and Batemans Bay in November. All of which, I paid for out of my own pocket. The costs totalling close to $5000 ($4673 from the receipts and spending tracker I have on my commbank app). There's also a trip booked over Christmas to Mossy Point, with a side trip to Melbourne tagged on. That'll inch my domestic travel spend closer to $7000 from March this year to the end of the year.

Yes $7000 seems like a sizeable chunk of my income after tax (more than 10 per cent) to spend on domestic travel, especially in 2020. It exceeds the "splurge" or short-term savings amount recommended by Scott Pape in The Barefoot Investor, which suggests 10 per cent of your income should be allocated to this category (note: these were pre-pandemic suggestions). And it exceeds the amount the average Australian spent on an overseas trip in 2019 ($4750, equal to 7.6 per cent of the average yearly income) as noted in Insurance provider Budget Direct Average Holiday Cost Statistics 2020.

Now, if you're doing the maths: I'm spending about $1200-$1300 per trip ($240-$260 per night) that includes accommodation, attractions, eating out, purchases and petrol. I own a car, so that amount doesn't include car maintenance, insurance and registration. So apply my spend of $240-$260 per night; that's a minimum $47 more than the $193 per person per night figure stated in the above report.

Travelling in Australia is more expensive than travelling overseas. It's a fact we all know - young and old. For the cost of my $7000 I could have taken one big domestic trip or a European summer holiday (my two-week trip to Japan in November last year cost about $3500, including flights and hotels).