Surging inbound tourism will help boost Australia's hotel occupancy levels this year and next while spurring room rate growth in most markets, particularly Sydney and Brisbane, according to new CBRE forecasts.
Year-to-date September 2023, all key markets but Sunshine Coast and Canberra have continued to record RevPAR growth compared to the same period in 2022, ranging from a low of 1.3% in Hobart to a high of 38.0% in Sydney.
This report by Horwath HTL Australia provides an outlook for ten key city markets across Australia, assessing performance to June 2023 and the outlook for future growth.
Australia’s occupancy through the first seven months of the year was 68.2%, which was up 9.8% from last year but down 6.0% from 2019. Average daily rate (ADR) of AUD234.46 was 7.4% higher than last year and 22.4% better than 2019.
In an Accommodating the Growth in New Students report, CBRE highlights that an incremental 8,000 PBSA rooms will be delivered across Australia over 2023-2026 – representing a 7% uplift.
While boutique hotels have traditionally achieved lower occupancies, room rates and revenues than their larger, international rivals the tables have turned according to new CBRE Viewpoint, which highlights a significant shift in domestic travel demand.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has revealed positive signs of recovery for the Australian Travel & Tourism sector with major cities welcoming travellers once again.
Inbound travel to the Sunshine Coast had recovered beyond pre-COVID levels, with the Sunshine Coast the second most popular destination in the country for city-dwellers migrating to regional centres, behind the Gold Coast.
Accor calls for investment in events to fast-track tourism revival
The Australian business outlook forecasts growth in 2022- 23. The unemployment rate is expected to moderate to an average of 3.8%, population to expand by 276,000 people, almost double the increase in 2021-22 and more than 290,000 people to join the labour force in 2022-23.