Old habits die hard as travellers head to Bali

AFTER two years without the opportunity for international travel, it seems to be a case of “old habits die hard” for Aussies as Bali roars back to the top of our holiday hit list.

Webjet data for March, showed a 696 per cent increase in bookings for Bali compared to the previous month. At Flight Centre, online inquiries about Bali accounted for a third of all traffic between March 4 and 18, and

Skyscanner was seeing a similar trend. Jetstar recorded a seven-fold increase in bookings from February to March, stronger demand than pre-pandemic. The surge followed the relaxation of quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated international arrivals on March 14.

University of Technology Sydney tourism lecturer David Beirman said it was not unusual for people to “play it safe” after any type of crisis and return to places with which they were familiar.