Hotel occupancy rates double as travel restrictions end
National hotel occupancy rates have doubled to 51 per cent in the past three months since lockdowns and travel restrictions ended in Victoria and NSW.
Sean Hunt, Marriott’s area vice-president for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific is expecting an even stronger increase as we head into Christmas and New Year.
“We’ve had the strongest pick-up [in bookings] in the past few weeks since 2019 and the biggest spike in revenue generation since the pandemic started,” Hunt told The Australian Financial Review.
“I’ve just got off a Tourism Accommodation Australia board meeting call. Everyone is bullish about future bookings. The revenues are returning.
“The recovery is being led by domestic leisure travel and staycations, but we have also seen a 30 per cent rise in corporate bookings,” Hunt said.
On Friday 29 October, intrastate travel restrictions in Victoria ended and STR figures show daily occupancy across Victoria increased to 57 per cent the next day, up from 23 per cent just six days before.
Regional markets such as the Hunter Valley and Blue Mountains saw an increase from 11 per cent to 48 per cent.
Similarly, CBD occupancy levels in Sydney rose to 37 per cent and Melbourne to 34 per cent from a 15 to 25 per cent range at the end of October.
Irit Jackson, 11th November 2021
