{"id":11659,"date":"2026-03-17T21:53:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/?p=11659"},"modified":"2026-03-27T06:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T06:37:22","slug":"expedia-easter-travel-outlook-aussies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/expedia-easter-travel-outlook-aussies\/","title":{"rendered":"Expedia\u2019s\u00a0Easter\u00a0Travel Outlook reveals\u00a0hotspots and\u00a0last-minute\u00a0travel tips\u00a0for the\u00a0holiday season\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><em>Majority&nbsp;of Aussies travelling this upcoming Easter are choosing to stay&nbsp;domestic,&nbsp;with coastal destinations&nbsp;emerging&nbsp;as the clear&nbsp;favourites<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SYDNEY,&nbsp;March&nbsp;18,&nbsp;2026 \u2013&nbsp;<\/strong>Today, Expedia revealed the most popular and trending&nbsp;domestic&nbsp;Easter&nbsp;destinations&nbsp;and&nbsp;last-minute&nbsp;booking tips,&nbsp;as&nbsp;the&nbsp;majority (79%) of Aussies travelling this upcoming Easter are choosing to stay local*.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Expedia\u2019s domestic&nbsp;Easter travel insights<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Easter falling earlier this year, Aussies are&nbsp;chasing sun\u2011soaked escapes at home, with nine of the top 10 destinations&nbsp;by the&nbsp;beach. The Gold Coast&nbsp;remains&nbsp;the top pick, while hotspots like Port Stephens (+130%) and Noosa (+65%) are surging as&nbsp;travellers&nbsp;squeeze in a final dose of&nbsp;warmer weather.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cApril\u00a0is only two weeks away, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not too late to\u00a0book a local escape,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Sarah King, Expedia Travel Expert<\/strong>. \u201cKeeping your options open on timing and destination is key.\u00a0The Expedia app is showing\u00a0Launceston,\u00a0Brisbane,\u00a0and Canberra\u00a0are destinations with\u00a0good\u00a0availability\u00a0and\u00a0value with\u00a0average\u00a0accommodation\u00a0rates\u00a0ranging from $200 to $350\u00a0per night,\u00a0making it easier to snap up a last\u2011minute deal\u00a0if you\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0booked yet*\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Expedia&#8217;s most popular and trending domestic&nbsp;destinations<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Most popular domestic&nbsp;Easter&nbsp;destinations<\/strong><strong><sup>1<\/sup><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><td><strong>Top trending domestic&nbsp;Easter destinations<\/strong><strong><sup>2<\/sup><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>1. Gold Coast, QLD&nbsp;<br>2. Sunshine Coast, QLD&nbsp;<br>3. The&nbsp;Whitsundays, QLD&nbsp;<br>4. Cairns, QLD&nbsp;<br>5. Port Douglas, QLD&nbsp;<br>6. Port Stephens, NSW&nbsp;<br>7. Central Coast, NSW&nbsp;<br>8. Byron Bay, NSW&nbsp;<br>9. Busselton, WA&nbsp;<br>10. Launceston, TAS&nbsp;<\/td><td>1. Toowoomba, QLD (+315%)&nbsp;<br>2. Byron Bay, NSW (+145%)&nbsp;<br>3. Port Stephens, NSW (+130%)&nbsp;<br>4. Tweed Heads, NSW (+125%)&nbsp;<br>5. Coffs Harbour, NSW (+120%)&nbsp;<br>6. Wollongong, NSW (+100%)&nbsp;<br>7. Newcastle, NSW (+75%)&nbsp;<br>8. Noosa, QLD (+65%)&nbsp;<br>9. Canberra, ACT (+45%)&nbsp;<br>10. Port Macquarie, NSW (+25%)&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Expedia\u2019s tips for booking a&nbsp;last-minute&nbsp;domestic getaway this April:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Travel the week after&nbsp;Easter<sup>3<\/sup>:&nbsp;<\/strong>Should you have the flexibility, plan your trip for 6\u201312&nbsp;April&nbsp;when&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;expected to be slightly less busy and better value for&nbsp;money. This week is expected to be&nbsp;<strong>15%&nbsp;less busy&nbsp;<\/strong>than Easter&nbsp;week&nbsp;(30 March \u2013 5 April)&nbsp;and can help you save up to 10% on accommodation.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Choose Easter Sunday&nbsp;for long weekend&nbsp;travel<\/strong><strong><sup>3<\/sup><\/strong><strong>:&nbsp;<\/strong>If you&nbsp;are travelling over the long&nbsp;weekend,&nbsp;opt&nbsp;for&nbsp;Easter Sunday (5 April)&nbsp;instead of Good Friday as&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;predicted&nbsp;to be&nbsp;<strong>60% less busy.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>It\u2019s&nbsp;not too late to escape:&nbsp;<\/strong>Easter is shaping up to be a busy&nbsp;period,&nbsp;but&nbsp;destinations&nbsp;such as&nbsp;Launceston,&nbsp;Brisbane,&nbsp;and Canberra&nbsp;still&nbsp;have good&nbsp;availability&nbsp;and&nbsp;average&nbsp;accommodation&nbsp;rates&nbsp;under $350 per night.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FAQ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q1: What are the most popular destinations for&nbsp;Easter&nbsp;2026?<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>A1:&nbsp;Gold Coast,&nbsp;Sunshine Coast and&nbsp;The&nbsp;Whitsundays&nbsp;are the most popular this Easter&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q2:&nbsp;When is the cheapest time to travel&nbsp;this&nbsp;Easter?<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>A2:&nbsp;The week&nbsp;after Easter&nbsp;(6\u201312 April)&nbsp;is the cheapest&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q3: When is the best time to travel to avoid the crowds&nbsp;this Easter&nbsp;long weekend?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A3: Easter Sunday (5 April)&nbsp;is the least busy day to travel&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Q4: Which destinations are likely to offer the best&nbsp;availability&nbsp;and value?<\/strong>&nbsp;<br>A4:&nbsp;Launceston,&nbsp;Brisbane&nbsp;and Canberra&nbsp;still offer&nbsp;availability&nbsp;and value&nbsp;over&nbsp;the&nbsp;Easter&nbsp;long weekend&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>*Third-Party Methodology<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Expedia&nbsp;research commissioned in collaboration&nbsp;with&nbsp;YouGov.&nbsp;Total sample size was 1,021&nbsp;Australian adults&nbsp;aged 18 years and older.&nbsp;Fieldwork was undertaken between&nbsp;5 to 9 February 2026.&nbsp;The survey was carried out online.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Data disclaimers:<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>* Based on an analysis of domestic average accommodation daily rates on Expedia.com.au for travel between\u00a030\u00a0March\u00a02026\u00a0and\u00a012\u00a0April\u00a02026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>1<\/sup>&nbsp;Based on an analysis of domestic accommodation demand on Expedia.com.au for travel between&nbsp;30&nbsp;March&nbsp;2026&nbsp;and&nbsp;12&nbsp;April&nbsp;2026,&nbsp;excluding capital cities&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>2<\/sup>&nbsp;Based on an analysis of domestic accommodation demand on Expedia.com.au for travel between&nbsp;30 March 2026 and 12 April 2026, compared to the same period the previous year&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>3<\/sup>&nbsp;Predicted best value and busiest times are based on an analysis of booked\u202fdomestic\u202fdata on Expedia.com.au for travel between 1&nbsp;April&nbsp;2025&nbsp;to 30 April&nbsp;2025\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYDNEY,&nbsp;March&nbsp;18,&nbsp;2026 \u2013&nbsp;Today, Expedia revealed the most popular and trending&nbsp;domestic&nbsp;Easter&nbsp;destinations&nbsp;and&nbsp;last-minute&nbsp;booking tips,&nbsp;as&nbsp;the&nbsp;majority (79%) of Aussies travelling this upcoming Easter are choosing to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,138],"tags":[185],"companies":[73],"locations":[72],"class_list":["post-11659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brand","category-featured","tag-expedia","companies-expedia","locations-sydney","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11659"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11682,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659\/revisions\/11682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11659"},{"taxonomy":"companies","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/companies?post=11659"},{"taxonomy":"locations","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations?post=11659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}