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New Data Reveals The Top 10 Aussie Travel Destinations We Can’t Stop Googling

New Data Reveals The Top 10 Aussie Travel Destinations We Can’t Stop Googling

You can shut down borders and ground planes, but you can’t stop us dreaming.

This year has seen tourism undergo one of the biggest upheavals in history — airlines going bust, entire economies falling apart and people too scared to venture far from home.

It’s been especially rough for Aussies used to travelling massive distances across the globe to experience something different. We can’t jump in a car and within a few hours be experiencing multiple different cultures, languages, cuisines and landscapes like our European mates. We’d be in the same state.

In the meantime, it’s only natural our online behaviour reflects these major shifts in our travel possibilities.

Wanting to monitor the impact COVID-19 has had on holiday intentions, new data from travel inspo platform, Vacaay, compared searches between June and July of this year with the same period last year.

They found that pre-pandemic, overseas islands were all the rage for 18 to 35-year-olds — we wanted to party ourselves sick in Ibiza, Bali and Mykonos.

But with international restrictions long in place, Vacaay data shows Australians are now plotting plans for domestic travel to more remote and natural areas of the Northern Territory (searches up 455 percent), Western Australia (up 382 percent) and Queensland (up 231 percent). City stays were down across the board.

Say what you will about 2020, but a major silver lining is people spending more time researching and discovering the plethora of epic places Australia has to offer local travellers.

Here are the 10 destinations that emerged as the most popular holiday locations among young Aussies.

#10  Top End Safari Camp, NT

 

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Matt Wright (the croc wrangler from Nat Geo Wild) launched his Top End Safari Camp, providing “bucket list outback adventures that tick all the boxes” according to Vacaay — which includes croc encounters.

Book the 24-hour tour departing Darwin for a trip with scenic helicopter flight, airboat cruise, outback pub lunch, swim at Berry Springs Nature Reserve, a gourmet BBQ dinner, cooked breakfast and overnight glamping accommodation. You’ll also be given the opportunity to feed ‘Tripod’, one of the largest crocodiles in the world.

#9  Clamshell Falls, QLD

 

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Venture just south of Cairns in far-north Queensland and you’ll discover the beautiful cascade waterfall of Clamshell Falls, deep inside Behana Gorge.

#8 Jervis Bay, NSW

 

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A forever popular summer tourist destination on NSW’s south coast, Jervis Bay is home to a number of gorgeous beaches, including Hyams Beach, which is said to boast the whitest sand in the world. You might even catch some bioluminescence in the waters at night.

#7 Margaret River, WA

 

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This is WA’s premier wine region, a popular tourist spot south of Perth. The Margaret River region is known for its wineries, beaches, surf breaks and breweries and is home to more than 100 vineyards.

#6 East Arnhem Land, NT

 

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“East Arnhem Land is home to some of Australia’s most gorgeous white sandy beaches, rugged coastlines, rocky escarpments, gorges, rivers and waterfalls. This slice of paradise in the Northern Territory’s northeast corner is home to the Yolngu people, the traditional landowners, meaning you’ll require a permit to visit,” says Vacaay.

#5 Great Barrier Reef, Qld

 

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The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef stretching approximately 2,300km through the Coral Sea, off Tropical North Queensland’s coast.

More than 3,000 individual reefs and hundreds of picture-perfect tropical islands offer sun-soaked, white-sand beaches and an abundance of marine life. The reef is perfect for snorkelling, scuba diving, swimming with dolphins and whale watching.

#4 Uluru, NT

 

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Uluru is a massive sandstone monolith in the heart of the Northern Territory’s Red Centre. Sacred to the Anangu, who are the traditional owners of the area, Uluru is thought to date back 550 million years.

#3 Cape Le Grand National Park, WA

 

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Cape Le Grand National Park is in Western Australia, 631 km south-east of Perth and 56 km east of Esperance. It’s got beaches voted the best in Australia along with stunning scenery, including massive granite and gneiss peaks rising from the coastal plain.

#2 Injidup Natural Spa, WA

 

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It’s not a spa in the way you’re thinking: the Injidup Natural Spa is a sheltered little inlet where surrounding rock formations protect bathers from the blasting waves of the Indian Ocean. According to Vacaay, this natural spa is one of Western Australia’s hidden gems and well worth a visit if you’re travelling through the Margaret River region.

#1 Corroboree Billabong, NT

 

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Turns out the travel experience young Aussies are dreaming of the most is tracking crocodiles along Corroboree Billabong in the NT.

The Corroboree Billabong is approximately an hour’s drive east of Darwin and one part of the Northern Territory you don’t want to miss. The billabong is home to the largest concentration of saltwater crocodiles in the world, with a number of guided boat tours and river cruises getting you up close to these incredible creatures.

(Lead Image: Provided / Tourism NT / Lola Hubner)

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