We reveal the best days to travel over Christmas – and top holiday hacks for 2025
We are helping business travellers plan their holidays this Christmas and next year by sharing its best hacks to maximise days off, highlighting the best days to travel, and the most popular destinations. For corporates seeking to maximise opportunities for ‘bleisure’ trips next year, there are a slew of Monday public holidays throughout the year that offer opportunities to extend business trips into mini getaways.
While Sydney is generally Australia’s busiest airport for corporate travellers, advance bookings already show Brisbane overtaking Sydney this Christmas among this traveller segment.
Over the two-week Christmas and January holiday period, we found that the busiest day for business travellers in 2023-24 was Friday 15 December. This holiday period (2024-25), it’s looking to be Friday 13 and Friday 20 December.
Conversely, the quietest days for travel during the two-week period last year (13 December 2023–8 January 2024) were 28-30 December and 3-5 and 8 January. This year, Corporate Traveller expects those dates to be 26-28 December, and 2-4 January. This Christmas, the most popular international destinations among businesses holidaying are looking to be (in order of ranking): Japan, Canada, Thailand, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, Vanuatu.
Who wins and loses across the states and territories?
By crunching the numbers, we found that Australian employees can more than double their annual leave next year. There are between 8-10 national public holidays in Australia each year, with some states and territories boasting an extra one or two public holidays.
By strategically booking holidays around key public holidays, employees in certain Australian states can come out on top when it comes to maximising their annual leave between this Christmas and next Christmas. Workers in Victoria lead the states: they can turn 21 days of leave into an impressive 57 days off by strategically booking around public holidays. In the ACT, employees can enjoy up to 56 days of total leave, while workers in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory can stretch their 20 days of annual leave to 53 days.
Meanwhile, NSW drops to the end of the list: employees can strategically transform their 20 days of leave into 50 days off — fewer than their counterparts in most other states.
While Sydney is generally Australia’s busiest airport for corporate travellers, advance bookings already show Brisbane overtaking Sydney this Christmas among this traveller segment.
More opportunities to leverage national public holidays in 2025 than this year
Savvy employees can ease into 2025 with a 16-day break this Christmas (between 21 December and 6 January 2025) by combining seven days of annual leave with the 25 December, 26 December and 1 January public holidays. And by choosing to fly on either Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, employees can avoid the busiest projected flight days, according to our historic booking data.
Beyond January, April is the next prime time workers can nab a long break with strategically booked leave. That’s thanks to three days of Easter and ANZAC public holidays just four days apart.
Employees can more than double their leave by taking just seven days of annual leave on 14-17 and 22-24 April, for a 16-day break spanning Saturday 12 to Sunday 27 April.
Tom Walley, our Australia-based Global Managing Director, says that 2025 offers better holiday opportunities than 2024, based on where the public holidays fall. He emphasises that with thoughtful planning, these holidays can provide substantial benefits for travellers and businesses alike.
Tom says: “Next year’s alignment of public holidays is a win-win for employees and businesses. Our analysis shows that by strategically leveraging these days in conjunction with annual leave, employees can spend up to 50 days away from the office or site, without businesses feeling that they’ve lost their employees in the workplace for that length of time.
“Given Australia is the global leader in bleisure travel, the placement of public holidays in 2025 can also help businesses to encourage this practice, enabling Australians to tack leisure breaks onto their work trips, and ultimately planning for international trips more effectively.
“Additionally, the rise in direct flights to key destinations like New Zealand, Bali, and Japan enhances travel accessibility.”
Discover how to leverage national public holidays to extend your annual leave using our holiday planning hacks:
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16 days off this Christmas for the price of seven
Transform the Christmas and New Year public holidays into a 16-day getaway by booking just four days of annual from Monday 23 December to Friday 3 January. This will get you more than two weeks off from Saturday 21 December through to Sunday, 5 January 2025.
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Get a nine-day break for the price of four this Australia Day
The Australia Day public holiday falls on Monday 27 January to give Aussies a three-day weekend. By dipping into four days of annual leave (from Tuesday 28 January to Friday 31 January) you can get a nine-day break from Saturday 25 January to Sunday 2 February.
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Double your Easter break
Good Friday falls on 18 April, Easter Monday is on 21 April and ANZAC Day is on 25 April. This means you can turn seven days of annual leave (from Monday 14 April to Friday 25 April) into a 16-day break spanning Saturday 12 April to Sunday 27 April.
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Celebrate the King’s birthday with a nine-day getaway
The King’s Birthday public holiday falls on Monday 6 October in Queensland, Monday 29 September in Western Australia, and Monday 9 June in all other states and territories. By four days of annual leave from the Tuesday to the Friday in the same week, employees can nab a nine-day break.
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Enjoy a nine-day break over Labour Day
Similarly, Labour Day falls on a different Monday across six states and the ACT (3 March in WA, 10 March in Victoria, 5 May in Queensland, 6 October in NSW, ACT & SA). You can add four days of annual leave on the Tuesday to the Friday in that same week to get a nine-day holiday, including the weekends.
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Wrap up 2025 with a 16-day holiday
For the organised travellers out there, the 2025 Christmas period presents another prime chance to maximise public holidays to turbocharge your annual leave with seven days of annual leave transforming into an extended break. Next year, Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on Thursday 25 December and Friday 26 December. By taking seven days of leave (Monday 22 December to Wednesday 24 December, Monday 29 December to Tuesday 30 December and Friday, 2 January) you can again nab a 16-day break from Saturday 20 December through to Sunday 4 January 2026.
Our hacks on how to maximise State- and Territory-specific public holidays
Some states and territories have additional opportunities to take extended holidays – which is good news for employees who have accumulated more than four weeks of annual leave.
Employees in Brisbane, Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory are gifted one more public holiday than NSW employees, while ACT and Victorian workers enjoy an additional two days’ public holidays – enabling them to maximise their total holiday days to 56 and 57, respectively.
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Victorians can take four-day and three-day holidays around Melbourne Cup Day and AFL Grand Final with just one day of annual leave
Lucky Victorians can increase their holidays to 57 days, by taking just 21 days’ annual leave in total. Next year’s Melbourne Cup Day is Tuesday 4 November. By taking one day of leave on Monday 3 November, Victorians can enjoy a four-day break from Saturday 1 November to Tuesday 4 November. While the date is yet to be set, Victorians can also look forward to a Friday off before next year’s AFL Grand Final around October – with no annual leave days required.
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ACT employees get 56 days of holiday with just 20 days’ annual leave
ACT employees don’t need to strategically plan any further annual leave to score 56 days of holiday. They get two additional three-day weekends around Canberra Day on Monday 10 March and Reconciliation Day on Monday 2 June.
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Brisbane workers can nab a five-day mini break around the Ekka Public Holiday
Brisbane workers can increase their holidays to 55 days with just 22 days’ annual leave. Next year, Brisbane’s Ekka Public Holiday is on Wednesday 13 August. Employees can maximise the day off by taking two days off (from Thursday 14 to Friday 15 August) to get a five-day break from Wednesday 13 to Sunday 17 August.
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Get bang for your buck next Western Australia Day
Next year, Western Australia Day falls on Monday 2 June. This extra public holiday enables WA workers to take a three-day weekend – increasing their holidays to 53 days, with no additional annual leave. And by taking four days off (from Tuesday 3 June to Friday 6 June), to secure a nine-day holiday from Saturday 31 May to Sunday 8 June, employees can increase their holidays to 59 days with just 24 days’ annual leave.
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Tasmanian workers get an extra-long weekend with no annual leave required
While Tasmania doesn’t observe Labour Day, Tasmanian workers will be gifted two long weekends around Eight Hours Day (Monday 10 March) and the Royal Hobart Regatta (Monday 10 February) or Recreation Day (Monday 3 November). This allows them to take a total of 53 days of holidays with just 20 days of annual leave.
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Secure two nine-day breaks around May Day and Picnic Day in the NT
Similarly, the Northern Territory doesn’t observe Labour Day – but the two additional public holidays (May Day on Monday 5 May next year and Picnic Day on Monday 4 August) more than make up for that. By enjoying that additional long weekend, employees increase their holidays to 53 days with just 20 days’ annual leave.
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South Australians get an extra long weekend around Adelaide Cup Day
With Adelaide Cup Day falling on Monday 10 March next year, South Australians can enjoy a long weekend – extending their total holidays to 53 days with just 20 days of annual leave.
