Goodbye bucks and hens: the huge travel shift Aussie couples are making

Engaged couples are turning their backs on raucous bucks' parties and hens' nights, and instead they're opting for a combined getaway with friends.

The growing trend of "together trips", as dubbed by the Skyscanner Travel Trends 2027 report, is taking hold as rising living costs force couples to rethink pre-wedding spending.

Skyscanner travel expert Jarrod Kris said that as people marry later in life and shift away from more traditional boys-only or girls-only events, couples are reimagining the hen-stag do.

"People are really starting to think about how they can have a more purposeful experience when they go away with their friends and family," Mr Kris said.

In the trend report, 39 per cent of travellers said they would prefer a shared pre-wedding hen-stag do with their partner, friends and family.

There are a few reasons why. Travellers viewed these getaways as being more fun, less hassle, more convenient, better for shared friendship groups and better for quality time.

As friend groups overlap, asking guests to attend two separate pre-wedding trips drains too much time and money.

"Australians are entering a new age of travel discernment, where every trip is expected to deliver something meaningful," Mr Kris said.

"We're seeing Aussie travellers become more selective about where they go, how they spend and the experiences they prioritise."

Not every pre-wedding celebration requires a passport, but when groups do go overseas together, they tend to travel in packs of seven, the report found.

Bali is a top spot for "together trips", with the average length of holidays reaching six nights, but Japan, Germany and even Brazil are growing in popularity.

If Skyscanner's latest data proves anything, it's that Aussies will keep travelling, come hell or high interest rates.

While two-thirds of Australians said that cost-of-living pressures were affecting their holiday choices, 78 per cent said they still planned to travel as much or more in 2027.

But this cost-crunch meant that travellers were becoming more intentional about how and where their travel budget was spent.

"Given the current economic climate, most people would be looking at other ways to save, but right now people are making those sacrifices elsewhere to ensure they can preserve travel," Mr Kris said.

Just as pre-wedding trips are swapping clubs and three-day benders for more meaningful connections, holidaymakers across the board are prioritising healthier habits while away.

Three in five Australian travellers said they would book accommodation because it serves a nutritious breakfast, while almost a quarter said having a gym at the hotel was non-negotiable.

And it's a trend that social media users are embracing, as views for "gym hotel" content skyrocketed by 659 per cent year-on-year, the report found.

"We're in the HYROX [fitness] era right now, five years ago it was F45 [gyms], before that it was HIIT [high-intensity interval training] ... TikTok trends around run clubs exist for a reason," Mr Kris said.

Gone are the days of airport keyrings and duty-free trinkets: souvenirs are now inspiring Australian travellers to visit new destinations.

More than a third of travellers plan to bring home a souvenir from their next holiday, with a growing number of people saying they have taken a trip in the past year to buy something they couldn't purchase online.

Called a "pilgra-merch" by Skyscanner researchers, the trend has holidaymakers hunting down exclusive merchandise, one-of-a-kind crafts and region-specific clothes.

Social media is fuelling the craze, with viral hits such as the $3 Trader Joe's tote bag from the US grocery store becoming a major travel status symbol on TikTok.

For these travellers, the trip was less about buying clutter and more about coming home with proof of an interesting trip.

Whether it is a combined bachelor-bachelorette getaway, a fitness-focused holiday, or a hunt for hyper-local souvenirs, Australians are moving away from surface-level sightseeing, Mr Kris said.