Santa in Oz
According to a recent survey held by online travel agent ZUJI Australia, Australians prefer sun over snow, family over friends and bad B.O. over crying kids as they travel over this year’s Christmas season.
More than 2000 travellers participated in ZUJI’s Christmas Confessional, which asked respondents a range of questions about their holiday travel plans.
Managing Director of ZUJI Australia James Gaskell, says the survey revealed Australians are typically family-minded and understanding when it comes to travelling over Christmas, but the Grinch may still lurk nearby.
More than 75% of Australians will be catching up with family members over the next few weeks, with some 40% planning to travel interstate or even internationally just to be close to their loved ones.
The survey, however, shows that even though Australians enjoy visiting family, they still like their personal space.
“Whereas some 70% of survey respondents stated that they’d travel around the world just to be with their family over the holidays, a similar number said they would prefer to book a hotel room rather than shack up with the rellies during their visit,” says Gaskell.
The survey also revealed that two thirds of Aussies would rather forgo a white Christmas altogether, instead rating their ideal Christmas holiday destination as somewhere with sun and sand. And when it comes to hotels, around a third of the respondents said they valued their peace and quiet so much that they would splash out on a child-free resort.
“Travelling during the silly season means plenty of packed out flights. Interestingly, when it came to flight horrors, Australians selected neglectful parents and their wailing children as their number one nightmare, over travellers who had neglected to shower,” says Gaskell.
Popular ways of dealing with these nightmare travel neighbours included giving ‘the look’ or simply making the cabin crew deal with it. But rather than make a scene, the great majority of Australians would rather simply grin and bear it.
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