A great deal of Aldi’s appeal is that in the same retail space where you can buy your weekly groceries, you can also buy a chainsaw or telescope. Now, to add to that weird and wonderful offering, you can include travel.
Aldi announced this week that it was moving into selling holiday packages with a suite of holiday escapes including cruises and tour deals. And the good news is, they are all discounted.
From just $449pp, ALDI’s first drop of packages includes picturesque escapes in Surfers Paradise, The Whitsundays, Fiji, Thailand, and Hawaii. There are also cruises around the Pacific Islands or Japan, and a range of 10-day tour options to South Africa, Europe or China.
ALDI Australia group director Rodney Balech said: “We are excited to be taking off in a new direction to make planning and booking a holiday a more enjoyable experience for Australians and in our signature, Good Different way with ALDI Holidays.
“This service, in partnership with Ignite Travel, will unlock incredible value and help all types of travellers create truly unforgettable experiences.
“With ALDI Holidays we’re bringing our Special Buys to the skies, offering savvy travelers premium holiday options. From budget-friendly bliss to extravagant escapes, there are different levels of luxury for every keen explorer.”
Similar to ALDI’s bi-weekly Special Buys, there will be a limited number of exclusive holiday deals, which will be available until sold out.
For more information, visit here.
Not everyone is convinced it’s a good idea.
In response to the news, Andrew Sullivan, who recently won ATIA’s social media award, told Travel Weekly: “Here we go again.
“Channel Nine’s done it, Channel Seven’s done it. Everyone seems to think it’s such an easy space to go into. The issue is what happens when something goes wrong. What are they going to do?”
“Is the customer going to just go to the Aldi checkout?” he joked.
Call for caravan licence
COVID lockdowns sent the sales of caravans booming across Australia, but that new-found love of the Australian road trip put a lot of inexperienced caravan drivers on the road.
What happened next was a lot of unneccessary carnage on our roads as drivers with little to no experience or training hit our roads, both major and outback, with devastating consequences.
Since then there has been a growing call for a specialist caravan licence from several authorities.
The National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) wants caravan owners to have additional training.
“On the road isn’t the best place to learn the skills that you need to safely travel,” NTRO safer infrastructure leader Emily McLean told the ABC.
“[An] option might be to have that training as an endorsement on an individual’s licence.
“Any sort of licensing scheme would have to be put in place at the state or territory level, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be a national agreement or endorsement around what that looks like.”
Not just about the drivers
The Caravan Industry Association of Victoria (CIAV) says it’s not just about inexperienced drivers, caravans are also bigger and more sophisticated than in previous generations.
CIAV chief executive Daniel Sahlberg explained: “Over the past decade caravans and RVs have increased in both length and weight.
“The five-metre pop-top vans of the past have been largely replaced by vans measuring almost 10 metres and weighing over 3500 kilograms.
“Just as greater driver skills and knowledge are needed to tow these longer heavier vans, regulation needs change to keep pace with the ever-evolving – and growing – caravan market.”
Online motoring magazine Drive has started a petition to implement a towing ‘endorsement’ on licences.
“There is currently no required training or limit for towing with a full licence in Australia,” the petition states.
“This means you can have zero experience with an articulated vehicle and trailer combination, that is of a total mass limited only by the vehicle rating, and head out on the road, anywhere in Australia.
“Correctly configured weights of both the tow vehicle and trailer are critical for safe towing, but there is no requirement for formal training of any kind for drivers to undertake before they tow.
A recent survey by Drive.com.au showed that 67 per cent of nearly 15,000 respondents felt that a towing endorsement should be compulsory for all drivers towing a heavy (braked) trailer.
Read more about the petition here.
Would you buy a holiday from Aldi? Why not share your opinion in the comments section below?
Also read: Can you have a cheap cruising holiday?
