International airfares will remain cheap well into 2017

International airfares are pretty cheap at the moment, no question about that, and they look set to remain that way well into 2017. The stronger Australian dollar matched with lower fuel prices should keep the already low international airfares at their historic lows and Australians are taking advantage of that.

With over 7.5 million Australian residents departing on overseas holidays last year, there is no questions we travel. Where are we going? We will continue to flock to the North and South America next year, taking advantage of the continuing cheap airfares, and an improved exchange rate.

Of course different airlines focus on different regions and Air New Zealand is making a concerted push to carry more Aussies to Houston, Buenos Aires, San Francisco and Vancouver with only one stop at Auckland on the way.

The flying Kiwi faces stiff competition from Qantas and Virgin Australia, as well as the US airlines of American, Delta and United and LATAM into South America who are also packing us up and shipping us out.

Japan is another very strong destination which will to continue to, following a 40 per cent leap in bookings this year.

Europe remains on the radar as we all love a bit of Paris, Munich, Geneva, Rome and Barcelona thrown into our personal photo albums, with Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways giving Aussie travellers the option to go direct into Spain or Italy, or virtually any other country rather than enter Europe through London.

But . . . and there’s always a But; while it’s never been cheaper to take off overseas, the airlines still need to make money to stay aloft. They are increasingly looking at ways to expand profit margins and are unbundling their offerings – stripping them down. What does that mean for the poor unsuspecting really excited traveller who is booking online? Put simply, it means things like checked luggage, food and seat selection attract separate fees in addition to the flight fare. Ouch!

How do you work all of that out when you’re doing your holiday planning, trawling through the different online travel booking sites comparing cheap flights and hotels and all the myriad of travel packages? That’s like comparing apples and oranges for price and taste. You can’t.

These days the traveller is getting swamped with the overload of destination information on the internet, and being time poor they are moving back to booking with travel agents for good reason. Packaged holidays are good if you want to land in a destination and follow the flock around to the same places with the same crowds. But there is more to a destination than that, there is more to experience: the real cultures and sights of the heart of the destination.

We are all doing our research online but it’s taking days, if not weeks, and can be very frustrating jumping from booking site, to review site, to destination guide, and back again a hundred times over, not to mention that a couple of positive travel reviews doesn’t necessarily match the needs of the traveller. Confusion also reigns with continually changing flight prices and package offerings.

So what’s the solution for the poor confused world traveller, who still wants the best deal, and to save money, and to make sure they see everything, more than a packaged tour is pig-penning them into? Use a Travel Agent. Yes they are still around and yes they are more professional, efficient and competitive than ever these days. All of the confusing big online travel agent platforms, the big online booking sites, have had a major reform and benefit on the behind-the-desk travel agent.

What has been a big traveller misconception of recent years is that the travel agent is not an affordable travel booking option. That couldn’t be further than the truth. The very experienced Travel Agent has all of the industry booking tools at their fingertips so they can find the best routes and prices in an instance, saving money on flights, hotels, and giving the traveller a far better experience than any package holiday will provide. They do all the work for you and build your travel itinerary for you.  What’s even more valuable is they are there to support the traveller should anything go wrong while they are away, no matter how small it may be. That’s peace of mind.

Now, travellers are able to match what they know - going online for travel – with the good old fashioned service of the behind the desk travel agent. There is a new free service travel platform called Going.Expert which connects travellers with "been-there" travel agents. Travellers are flocking to this new easy-to-use database of real-live travel agents who have actually been to the destinations the traveller is going to. Going Expert doesn’t sell travel and doesn't compare prices; they simply match the travellers destination with any of the thousands of real-live travel agents on Going Expert directly and instantly, connecting them so they can tap into their expertise, pricing advantage and destinational local knowledge.

For travellers to take advantage of the continuing cheap flights during 2017 get the absolute best out of their trip, experiences they won’t get from a standard packaged holiday, while saving a lot of time and money, they need to jump on www.Going.Expert and search for a travel agent who has “been-there” - a travel agent with real local knowledge. It's simple to use, and Free.