This was published 4 years ago
Number of Australians with a passport: Where we travel and why
Close to half of all Australians do not have a passport.Credit: Shutterstock
The 20-something son of a mate of mine just went to Berlin for a party. For the weekend. Flew over on a Friday, party Saturday, left Sunday and back at work Tuesday morning.
Aussies are among the supremos of world travel. We travel far and we travel long and we're everywhere. While Europeans regard a 24-hour flight time with a two-hour break with fear and loathing, we grit our teeth and just get it done, and do it again next year.
We start when we're young and the overseas trip becomes an ingrained habit and we keep doing it perhaps when our hearts and knees suggest otherwise. Which might go some way to explaining why Australians are more likely to take a cruise than any other nationality. No surprise then that in 2018, 11.1 million Australians returned from short stays overseas, an increase of 5.7 per cent over 2017. That's impressive, but what's even more impressive is the growth in domestic tourism.
According to Austrade's statistics for domestic tourism, in the year ending September 2018, the number of domestic overnight trips grew by 7 per cent to 103 million while the total number of nights spent on those trips was up by 6 per cent to 368 million. Tasmania registered the strongest growth in domestic visitation, up 11 per cent, followed by Western Australia with an increase of 10 per cent. New South Wales recorded the biggest increase in domestic tourism spend, up 13 per cent, followed by Queensland at 12 per cent.
One reason – we're living longer than ever. On average, our elderly are healthier and they have greater disposable wealth than any previous generation, yet from about age 65 the graph for Australians returning from short overseas trips heads for the basement. The over 65s haven't stopped travelling, but they're travelling in the place they call home. It's that demographic that is now fuelling the rise in domestic tourism in Australia.
Who goes overseas?
In 2017-18, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, only 57 per cent of all Australians held a valid Australian passport.
A small number of Australian residents might not have Australian citizenship and might travel overseas on another country's passport, since they are allowed to leave and re-enter Australia if they have a Resident Return visa. It's probably safe to assume that about 40 per cent of Australian residents don't have a valid passport, and don't travel overseas. Of the 60 per cent with a passport, the distribution curve bulges upward for those aged between 30 and 65.
Where you live also plays a role in your propensity for overseas travel. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show Tasmania was the state with the lowest percentage of its population travelling overseas in 2018, followed by South Australia and Queensland.
Why we travel overseas
Put the question to a random sample of friends and relations and this is some of the likely feedback.
'I can get better value overseas.'
Hard to argue with this one. When you can get a pretty decent room in a four-star resort in Thailand or Bali for $200 per night, less if you're on a package deal, eat out for $10 to $20, get a car with a driver for about $100 per day – why wouldn't you? Go backpacker style and you can live there on $50 per day. Our minimum wage is high compared to the rest of the world and designed so a fair day's work earns a fair day's pay. In Australia a night in a hotel, a meal out and a guided tour costs more than in most other places.
'I want something different from the ordinary.'
There's nothing like the stimulation that comes when you're somewhere you don't belong. Senses get dulled by the familiar, and nothing beats getting out of your comfort zone to wake them up. Different food, different smells, sights, sounds – overseas is more exotic, more intoxicating, more desirable and more Instagrammable. It's what dreams are made of.
'I'll see the world first and leave Australia for when I get old.'
Youth comes with more energy, curiosity, taste for challenges, greater ability to tolerate long and cramped flights and noise and a penchant for places where alcohol is cheap and the local cops take a flexible approach to the traffic rules, and that puts overseas in the spotlight. A holiday in Australia's tourist hotspots – far north Queensland, Kangaroo Island, Uluru, the Gold Coast, Kakadu – can feel a lot like a night down the local bowling club, with lights out at 9.30.
And why we don't
'It's too far.'
New Zealand is one of our closest neighbours, but even Auckland is a three-hour flight from Sydney, half an hour longer from Melbourne. That's slightly longer than a non-stop- flight from Paris to Istanbul. A flight from Melbourne to Singapore takes about 7½ hours. More than half that time is spent flying over Australia. It takes less time to fly from New York City to Amsterdam. So yes, especially for those Australians who live deep in the country's south-east cities, overseas is a long way.
'Overseas is too complicated.'
Passports, visas, immigration officials, foreign exchange, foreign language, foreign food – overseas can seem all too unfamiliar and strangely threatening. "Home" is familiar ground, it's as comfortable as a pair of well-worn slippers, and there are times when you just want comfort.
'Australia has everything I want to see.'
True, Australia is chock-full of wonders. Enough to give you a lifetime of pleasure even if you never travel beyond our coastline. By the yardstick of the rest of the world, Australia, its landscapes, its wildlife, coastline, beaches and its variety makes this a pretty special place. Which is why so many young Europeans come here for anything up to a couple of years, just as ours are heading over to the place they've just left. The treasures that are right under our noses are often the hardest to see.
'It's too expensive.'
It's not just the cost of the trip itself, there's a substantial investment required to travel overseas. Travel insurance, even a passport is a significant investment, and then there's all the paraphernalia that goes with travel.
Some places are scaldingly expensive. A very average hotel room in London can cost $350 per night, a beer in a bar in Copenhagen about $9.50, a cup of coffee in a railway station in Switzerland can set you back $7, and both for flavour and cost it's probably not an experience you'll repeat too often. Live like a foreigner in Japan and you're up for major cost, but it needn't be that way.
Outside the big cities, France, Italy and Spain are about what you'd expect to pay in Australia, as is most of North America. Most of Asia is cheaper. If it's cost that's keeping you in the armchair, you're looking in the wrong places.
See also: World's most powerful passports for 2019 named, as Australia's ranking drops
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