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(By Sally Morris and Fiona Self - Bond University Journalism students)
The global financial crisis has not stopped Varsity Lakes residents from travelling overseas.
Varsity Lakes Travel owner Nicholas Rone said the global financial crisis had not severely affected his business.
“Australia hasn’t been hit quite as hard by the Global Financial Crisis as many other countries but [customers] are now very careful with their money and have gone back to more face-to-face business dealings,” he said
Tourism Australia’s national visitor survey found that Australians aged 15 years and over took 5.2 million international trips last year.
Mr Rone said the GFC had encouraged people to travel because of future financial uncertainty.
“[People] might not have jobs in August so they travel now when they can afford to,” he said.
Varsity Lakes resident Daniel Kotzias said he had travelled to Bali with some friends in January and chose to go there because flights and accommodation were cheap.
“I was thinking about going to Melbourne, but then I saw the flights to Bali and it was dirt cheap,” he said.
“Why would I want to travel interstate when I can go overseas for less.”
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