Mitchell Swan of Medowie hasn't set foot outside Australia before. He spoke with the Newcastle Herald at the weekend, clutching a brochure for his first overseas trip - a honeymoon cruise on the Greek islands with his new fiance, Ebony Solomou.
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"I'm already looking for other places to go," he said, beaming. "I haven't even been anywhere yet."
The couple recently got engaged and had begun planning their wedding in September, including their honeymoon getaway, when they arrived at Wests' NEX club Sunday for the Helloworld Hunter Travel Group's largest travel expo since the COVID-19 pandemic ground Australian tourism to a halt in 2020.
The club played host to around 50 holiday destination providers - from airlines to cruises - at the weekend, as prospective travellers looked to knock off the pandemic dust and snag a bargain at the one-day sale event.
The Hunter Travel Group's managing director, Brett Dann, said the excitement surrounding the expo, which filled the club's theatres and auditorium Sunday, was testament to the region's travel-starved holidaymakers keen to get out and see the world again.
"Everyone refers to 2019 as the last year of travel trends, but it's building again," Mr Dann said, "This has been our largest expo, larger than we had in 2019.
I'm already looking for other places to go, and I haven't even been anywhere yet.
- First-time traveller Mitchell Swan is planning his honeymoon with fiance Ebony Solomou
Everyone is keen to look at destinations and get travelling again."
Helloworld's 44th event at the weekend effectively marked the first post-pandemic Australian travel expo, Mr Dann said, adding that travel trends were quickly making their way back to, and even exceeding, pre-pandemic levels.
"Newcastle typically over-indexes on travel," he said as hundreds of holidayers made their way between the destination stalls, "We're good explorers, and we travel to all parts of the world."
"It's exciting to be finally talking about the world again and being able to travel."
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Simon McCarthy
Simon McCarthy is a journalist working at the Newcastle Herald in NSW. He writes news and features, and produces video and multimedia, for the Herald and Herald Weekender magazine. He contributes regularly to the Newcastle Herald’s daily Topics column, and is the co-creator and producer of the Toohey’s News podcast. McCarthy has worked as a journalist in regional NSW since 2013. He joined the newsroom of the Newcastle Herald in 2017 from the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he worked from 2015 to 2016.
Simon McCarthy is a journalist working at the Newcastle Herald in NSW. He writes news and features, and produces video and multimedia, for the Herald and Herald Weekender magazine. He contributes regularly to the Newcastle Herald’s daily Topics column, and is the co-creator and producer of the Toohey’s News podcast. McCarthy has worked as a journalist in regional NSW since 2013. He joined the newsroom of the Newcastle Herald in 2017 from the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he worked from 2015 to 2016.
