Life's a beach? European students' travel motivations while studying in Australia

This paper aims to provide an understanding of the importance of travel related aspects in European international students’ decision-making process to study abroad in Australia, in particular by exploring the extent to which travel and tourism-related factors influence students’ decision making prior to departure, and, once in Australia, their actual travel behaviour. Pre and post study abroad qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 European students prior to departure and again upon their return, aiming to identify how influential travel related factors were in their decision to select Australia as their study destination. Travel motivations and travel behaviour of these European international students during their stay in Australia are presented in this paper. Results suggest that the allure of Australia as a destination has a significant impact on their decision to come, and strongly influences their travel and tourism behaviours while engaging in their study abroad semester.