As travel restrictions lift, we all can’t wait to start planning our holidays! But Aussies are feeling the pinch of the pandemic and are finding it difficult to justify the spend on a holiday. Play Travel has swooped in to help!

Play Travel is a new travel website that has launched to give travellers the freedom to book now and pay in weekly installments.

Play Travel, a partnership between Afterpay and LayAway Travel, adopts a traditional layby model so customers are able to pick and book a curated holiday package and pay for it in full or in weekly installments over a 2- to 12-month period, before they travel.

Create A ‘Holiday Fund’

We like that customers can carefully budget their travel so they can nominate how much they want to contribute to their ‘holiday fund’ on a weekly basis and assemble a suitable itinerary around their budget.

The complete version of Play Travel, which will launch at the end of 2020, will give holiday makers the ability to put together an itinerary that not only meets their budget, but allows them to bundle flights, accommodation and experiences.

Afterpay Your Holiday

“Play Travel’s interest free payments open the door for many Australians who want to start travelling again, but also want to be in control of their personal finances and avoid coming back from a trip with debt lag,” said Mr Andrew Paykel, Managing Director and CEO of Play Travel.

Play Travel has revealed some interesting findings about the way Aussies are keen to travel post-pandemic:

Planning during a pandemic

Whilst some used home isolation downtime to develop a new skill or learn how to perfect the perfect sourdough starter, others could have spent it dreaming and planning their next holiday. 70% of travellers are planned and considered when it comes to co-ordinating a holiday. And while we may be a bit tighter on our purse strings, the survey finds that 63% of travellers are even more conscious and concerned about unexpected expenses when on holiday.

Beaches beats busyness

When it comes to the type of holiday they’re looking for, 65% of travellers would rather travel to a beach than a big city – it seems when it comes to holiday preferences, social distancing is taken into consideration. The survey also found the trans Tasmanian bubble is strong, with 60% wanting to visit New Zealand and neighbouring South Pacific over anywhere else in the world.

Budget blues

Holiday planning can also be stressful with 43% of people struggle with their budget pre-holiday, followed by 32% who admit to being frustrated having to trawl through multiple booking websites to book their holiday.

Pay NOT pay

Paying for your holiday before you travel is hugely appealing to travellers, with 74% opting for a payment plan rather than relying on bank credit cards with high-interest charges and debt (8%) and 17% relying on debit cards.

Holiday budgeting is not for the penny pinchers

Just because they’re budgeting doesn’t mean they’re penny pinchers; in fact, 60% of travellers surveyed prefer to stay in 4-5 star accommodation with 79% of holiday activities focused around food and drink experiences closely followed by arts, entertainment and culture.

Holiday frustrations

The photo album may look wonderful and the memories last forever, but when it comes to booking a holiday, 60% say they’re frustrated by poor refund or cancellation policies, with 52% complaining of having to book different elements of their travel (accommodation, flights, experiences) on different websites.

* Survey conducted by Play Travel interviewing 2000 Australians in April 2020.

How do you usually pay for your holidays? Would you be keen to Afterpay your travel using a website like Play Travel? Tell us in the comments below.