Corporate Traveller tips to maximise your annual leave in 2026

Corporate Traveller mapped every national and state-based public holiday for 2026 and found that, when employees reserve their annual-leave days around the key holiday clusters, they can unlock lengthy blocks of time off without leaving businesses short-staffed.^[1] 

The standout opportunities come from five windows: Christmas–New Year, Australia Day, Easter, the King’s Birthday long weekend and each state and territory’s Labour Day (or equivalent) holiday. Together, these windows transform the full-time leave entitlement of 20 annual-leave days into up to 53 consecutive days away from the office nationwide, and even more where extra state holidays apply. 

Tom Walley, Global Managing Director of Corporate Traveller, says thoughtful timing will pay dividends next year: “Public holidays in 2026 are well spaced for extended getaways. By locking in leave requests now, employees can secure the best fares and accommodation and employers can plan resourcing well in advance. Everybody wins.”

“Given Australia is the global leader in bleisure travel^[2], the placement of public holidays in 2026 can also help businesses to encourage this practice, enabling Australians to tack leisure breaks onto their work trips, and ultimately plan for international trips more effectively.” 

Discover how to leverage national public holidays to extend your annual leave using Corporate Traveller's holiday planning hacks:

Christmas–New Year offering 16 consecutive days off with just 7 days of annual leave

With the public holidays on Thursday 25 December 2025, Friday 26 December 2025 and 1 January 2026, employees who lock in seven days of annual leave (Mon 22–Wed 24 Dec, Mon 29–Wed 31 Dec, and Fri 2 Jan) can enjoy a 16-day summer break from Saturday 20 December 2025 through Sunday 4 January 2026. For quicker trips choose to fly on either Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day and avoid the busiest projected flight days, according to Corporate Traveller’s historic booking data.

Australia Day offers another a nine-day escape with just four days of annual leave

With the public holiday on Monday 26 January, employees who take four annual leave days from Tuesday 27 January to Friday 30 January will gain nine uninterrupted days off from Saturday 24 January to Sunday 1 February. 
 

Easter creates a 10-day runway with just 4 days’ annual leave

Good Friday is 3 April and Easter Monday is 6 April, enabling workers to redeem four leave days from Tuesday 7 April to Friday 10 April and enjoy a 10-day break from 3 April to 12 April. Tasmanian public-service employees have Easter Tuesday as a public holiday, trimming their leave requirement to just three days.^[3] 

Mid-year long-weekend hacks continue

Many states celebrate the King’s Birthday on Monday 8 June (Queensland on 5 October; Western Australia on 28 September). Four leave days either side of those Mondays convert each long weekend into nine consecutive days off. 

Labour Day holidays allow us to repeat the hack: 2 March in Western Australia, 9 March in Victoria and Tasmania, 4 May in Queensland and the Northern Territory (called May Day), and 5 October in NSW, the ACT and South Australia. 

Corporate Traveller hacks on how to maximise state- and territory-specific public holidays 

Some locations will have additional opportunities to take extended holidays – which is good news for employees who have accumulated significant annual leave.

New South Wales – 53 days off for 23 days’ leave
While NSW doesn’t enjoy extra state holidays, the five national holiday clusters (Christmas/New Year, Australia Day, Easter, King’s Birthday and Labour Day) still let full-timers turn 23 annual-leave days into 53 consecutive days away from the office.^[4] 

Victoria – 60 days off for 24 days’ leave
Add AFL Grand Final Eve (date TBC) and Melbourne Cup Day (Tuesday 3 November) to the national hacks and Victorians can lock in up to 60 days off. One extra leave day (Monday 2 November) builds a four-day Cup mini-break, taking the total annual-leave tally to 24 days.^[5] 

Queensland – 58 days off for 25 days’ leave
Queenslanders follow the core hacks and then use Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) Wednesday 12 August to add on a five-day winter escape with two extra leave days. The result is 58 days away using 25 leave days.[i] 

Western Australia – 71 days off for 31 days’ leave
WA is the clear winner. The state gets both WA Day (Monday 1 June) and the only Monday-in-lieu for ANZAC Day (Monday 27 April). Pair those with the late-spring King’s Birthday holiday (Monday 28 September) and the national clusters, and West Aussies can engineer 71 days off for 31 leave days._[6] 

South Australia – 62 days off for 27 days’ leave
SA’s Adelaide Cup Day (Monday 9 March) joins the national calendar, nudging the total to 62 days away while still needing only 27 annual-leave days.^[7] 

Tasmania – 50 days off for just 19 days’ leave
Thanks to Royal Hobart Regatta (Monday 9 February) or Recreation Day (Monday 2 November), Eight Hours Day (Monday 9 March) and the restricted Easter Tuesday holiday (Tuesday 7 April), Tasmanians shave four leave days off the standard playbook and still enjoy 50 days out of the office for a mere 19 leave days.^[8] 

Australian Capital Territory – 55 days off for 23 days’ leave
ACT employees automatically gain two extra-long weekends from Canberra Day (Monday 9 March) and Reconciliation Day (Monday 1 June). Layer those onto the national clusters and you reach 55 days away on the standard 23 leave days.^[9] 

Northern Territory – 50 days off for 19 days’ leave
The top end swaps October Labour Day for May Day (Monday 4 May) and adds Picnic Day (Monday 3 August). Those two public-holiday Mondays, combined with the national clusters, give Territorians 50 days off while using only 19 leave days.^[10]

Download your calendar here

^{[1] https://australianpublicholidays.com/public-holidays-2026/#google_vignette}

^{[2] https://www.corporatetraveller.com.au/resources/insights/bleisure-travel#:~:text=Did%20you%20know%20that%20globally,to%20know%20about%20bleisure%20travel}

^{[3] https://worksafe.tas.gov.au/topics/laws-and-compliance/public-holidays}

^{[4] https://www.nsw.gov.au/about-nsw/public-holidays}

^{[5] https://business.vic.gov.au/business-information/public-holidays/victorian-public-holidays-2026}

^{[6] wa.gov.autheaustralian.com.au}

^{[7] https://www.safework.sa.gov.au/resources/public-holidays}

^{[8] worksafe.tas.gov.au}

^{[9] act.gov.au}

^{[10] https://nt.gov.au/nt-public-holidays}