Grey nomads favour Outback travel

As well as a preference for travelling by car and caravan or motorhome, baby boomers and empty nesters prefer to head inland rather than to the beach when it comes to holidays, according to the latest Roy Morgan research.

Asked which places in Australia they’d like to spend a holiday of three or more nights in the next two years, those 55 and over are more likely to name inland and outback destinations than family-friendly coastal hot spots, when compared to younger people.

Compared to the average Australian, golden oldies are also 93 per cent more likely to nominate Far West NSW (Cobar, Broken Hill, Bourke, Lightning Hill etc) as a potential holiday destination and 89 per cent more likely to nominate Far North South Australia including Coober Pedy.

They’re also far more likely to name Outback Queensland (Charleville, Longreach, Mt Isa) as a place they’d like to spend some leisure time.

Other over-55 ‘hot spots’ include Lord Howe Island, Outback Queensland (Charleville, Longreach, Mt. Isa), the Flinders Ranges, Murray Mallee, Mildura and Swan Hill,  Tasmania’s north West Coast (Burnie, Devonport, Stanley), and West Australia’s Kimberley region.

On the other hand, when it comes to coastal destinations they're 62 per cent less likely than the average Aussie to choose Surfers Paradise and more likely to opt for less ‘well-trodden’ places like Kangaroo Island and Hervey Bay.

Snowy and/or cold destinations don’t appeal to the 55-plus brigade much either: they’re 38 per cent less likely than the average Australian to name NSW’s High Country and Snowfields as somewhere they’d like to holiday and 26 per cent less likely to name Victoria’s High Country and Snowfields.

"Although the holiday destinations that top the wish-lists of Aussies aged 55 or older are very similar to the rest of the population (Melbourne, Hobart, Perth and Sydney), some striking differences emerge once we look beyond the capital cities," said Roy Morgan Research’s Angela Smith.

"While Surfer’s Paradise rates highly among the total population as a place they’d like to holiday, over-55s would rather go to Broome, Cairns or Margaret River.

"Unconstrained by the demands of jobs or children, grey nomads have the time and freedom to explore this huge country of ours and visit places that others simply don’t get to."

The latest findings back up an earlier report on empty nesters (parents of children who have left home), which found they're more likely to holiday at home rather than overseas compared to the rest of the population.

Compared to the average Australian, empty nesters are also 10 per cent less likely to enjoy doing as little as possible on holiday, 36 per cent less likely to enjoy holidays where everything is organised for them, and 59 per cent less likely to prefer bright lights and big cities when they travel.

Described as "primarily baby boomers who are keen to enjoy the things in life that they put on hold while raising a family," empty nesters account for around one in every 11 Australians, or more than 1.5 million people.