Press Release

40pc finance holidays with credit card: survey

February 17, 2009

AUSTRALIA'S financial crisis has certainly not tightened wallets, with almost 40 per cent of travellers revealing they use their credit card to pay for their entire holidays.
The credit-card happy bunch (38.8 per cent) said they paid for everything by credit card because it was quick and convenient, and they didn't have time to save.

The shocking statistic was part of the latest survey by totaltravel.com, which asked the question: How do you pay for your holidays?

More than 590 people responded.

Only 1 in 4 people (27.1 per cent) paid for their holidays entirely in cash, stating that they wanted a "stress-free and debt-free" break.

Paying for their holidays by both cash and credit card was 27.6 per cent of voters.

The remaining 6.5 per cent of voters said they never went on holidays.

Totaltravel.com global marketing manager Paul Fisher said using credit cards for holiday purchases had its benefits, as long as they were used responsibly.

"Credit cards are definitely a convenient option for online travel purchases, such as airfares, accommodation and tours," he said.

"When overseas, it's also great to pay by credit card a security measure - there's nothing worse than walking around with hundreds of dollars worth of cash on you.

"But like anything, credits cards are best used in moderation. It's always a good idea to ensure you have enough money saved up to pay for any credit card purchases. "

View survey results here:
http://www.totaltravel.com.au/australia/poll/holiday-budget/results

ENDS

Media enquires:
Paul Fisher
Global Marketing Manager
totaltravel.com
Phone +61 (0)2 6680-8755
Mobile 0404 057 367

About totaltravel.com
totaltravel.com was established in 2002 and is Australia’s leading online travel marketplace for travellers and travel suppliers. Travellers can research destinations, read the opinions of other travellers, find travel offers and then deal directly with travel suppliers to save money.