Hotels hurt from postponed poll
Canberra’s accommodation hotel industry is hurting from the prolonged economic downturn from the Federal election delay, according to a new survey by the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) ACT Branch released today (August 1).
The election delay is taking a heavy toll on Canberra’s accommodation sector – with some hotels reporting a revenue fall of up to 50 per cent fall (with an average drop of 30 per cent) since the Federal Labor leadership change, the AHA ACT survey on leading hotels found.
Occupancy levels in many hotels have fallen sharply by an average of 30 per cent across the sector, the AHA ACT survey on the majority of Canberra’s hotels showed.
AHA ACT Branch General Manager Brad Watts said the longer Prime Minister Kevin Rudd prolonged the poll date, the more accommodation hotels and hospitality businesses in Canberra will suffer.
“The AHA ACT is urgently calling on the ACT Government to lobby Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to encourage Mr Rudd to quickly make a decision about the election date,” Mr Watts said.
“Industry also calls directly on the Prime Minister to immediately announce the election date to create much-needed certainty and generate economic activity in Canberra.”
Mr Watts said while the election delay impact was being felt by business right across Australia, the impact is far more acute in Canberra, where local hospitality businesses rely on Government travel, spending and events.
Earlier this year, a similar AHA ACT survey predicted more than $6 million would be wiped from the sector with Parliament not expected to sit for most of the second half of the year.
“Industry fears this economic downturn figure could now be even higher, due to the continued uncertainty and lack of spending on hospitality in the nation’s capital,” Mr Watts said.
Mr Watts said many hotels heavily rely on income from Parliament sitting weeks but this revenue will dry up due to the non-sitting of Parliament for the election, which is still yet to be announced.
Mr Watts said while Canberra’s Centenary, the National Gallery of Australia winter exhibition and a new Wotif.com tourism campaign were attracting tourists locally, there still needs to be urgent relief for the industry.
“As a result and in the current pre-election slowdown, industry is calling on the ACT Government to highlight industry’s plight to the Prime Minister and ask him to name the date to create some certainty in the nation’s capital,” Mr Watts said.
There are currently around 5000 hotel rooms available across the ACT – with more hotels rooms expected to be opened in late 2013.
Source: Australian Hotels Association ACT, 2 August 2013
