It looks like holidays at home this year as high fuel prices and economic uncertainty start to bite family recreation and travel plans.
The Commonwealth Bank’s Household Spending Insights data shows that annual spending growth declined by three percentage points in April 2026.
Overall, household spending fell by 1.2 percent in April, driven by 12.1 percent lower spending on petrol due to the fuel excise cut, and low-cost or free public transport in some states.
Commonwealth Bank Head of Australian Economics Belinda Allen said people were being cautious with spending on recreation, but the Middle East conflict had not yet resulted in a sharp pullback on discretionary spending.
“The April data was softer. But it is too early to judge whether this marks a broader trend,” Ms Allen said in a statement.
“Petrol price movements continue to have a big impact on the month-to-month swing in household spending, and we expect households to do much of the heavy lifting over coming months in slowing spending and cooling inflation.
“The key will be seeing if some of the weakness in recreation spending is recycled into other categories or pushed into savings.”
Of the 12 spending categories, six recorded a fall, and six recorded gains – including rare falls in insurance and health, with health recording the first monthly decline since March last year.
Recreation spending was the only category with an annual contraction in growth – declining 2.6 percent in April (seasonally adjusted), and recording the second-weakest result out of any category, behind only transport.
“Declines in annual spending growth were recorded in travel-related categories such as online travel bookings, ticketing services, travel agencies, commercial airlines and accommodation,” Ms Allen said.
