According to a nationally representative survey by Savvy (n=1,000) of Australian’s spending habits around Easter 2023, 31% of Australians say they’ll be spending between $51 and $150 on Easter this year, while 22% say they will spend between $251 and $500. A further 27% said they would spend $50 or less this year. This amounts to 80% of total respondents who will spend $500 or less in total this Easter.
This is a direct contrast to 2022’s figures, in which 58% said they were prepared to spend up to $500, as found in Savvy’s 2022 survey: 73% of Australians had “money to burn”.
A similar lessening in spending sentiment year on year can be seen when comparing those expecting to spend between $500 and $1000. In 2022, 23% of the total 1003 respondents claimed they would spend this within this range, while in 2023 this figure dropped to 12%.
Of those intending to spend between $1000 and $2000 in total over Easter, the percentage dropped from 14% in 2022 to five per cent in 2023.
Standout findings by state or age group found that 37% of the 18–24-year-old demographic said they would be spending between $51-$100 during Easter; 44% of South Australians said the same. Equal amounts of the 45-54s and the 55-64s (34%) said they would be spending between zero and $50 on Easter – the demographic which usually skews towards buying chocolate eggs for grandchildren.
Only one per cent of respondents said they would be spending $4000 or more this Easter.
Travel plans
Sixty-four per cent of respondents in 2023 said they would be staying home over the Easter break, compared with 45% stating the same in 2022. Furthermore, 14% saying they would take a “staycation” – visiting local tourist destinations or leisure sites in 2023, down from 17% in 2022. 76% of over 65s indicated they would be staying home.
The same amount said they would travel within their own state in 2023 (14%) and six per cent said they would travel interstate. These figures were down from 2022, when 26% said they would travel within their state, while 10% said they’d travel interstate.
Only two per cent of people surveyed said they would be travelling abroad this year.
Finance expert and Savvy spokesperson Adrian Edlington says Australians are well and truly feeling the pinch of economic conditions and Easter is the first major holiday to see a potential downturn in spending.
“Easter isn’t as big as a holiday for Australians as Christmas. If there’s cash to splash, Aussies tend to spread it around. These results indicate that people are tightening their belts this Easter, which owes much to inflation and the ten consecutive interest rate rises,” Mr Edlington said.
“This is the first Easter in memory when a deluxe chocolate egg can cost upwards of twenty dollars or more. Buying three or four of those for kids and cousins really does add up. Our most recent survey that had 38% of Aussies saying they’d prioritise their mortgage over discretionary spending seems to be filtering through to Easter.” 
