More than 120 hoteliers from New South Wales hotels were in attendance for the recent Accommodation Australia NSW Hotel Market and Economic Outlook Update at Hilton Sydney.
General Managers and other senior staff from top hotels gathered heard from a variety of guest speakers about market conditions including the impact of cost-of-living pressures and global uncertainty on the travel and hotel landscape.
“The figures presented by Paul Hammond, Sales Manager Pacific at STR showed global demand continues to surpass prior years, though the pace of growth has slowed and normalised,” said AA NSW General Manager Stacey McBride.
“There was positive demand growth, particularly across gateway cities Sydney and Melbourne, over the last 12 months although the Average Daily Rate (ADR) remained stagnant.
“Regional Australia’s occupancy is reflective of normalised demand behaviour, with rates in a whole new class and holding that position, while Sydney saw a boost in occupancy, ADR and RevPAR from Coldplay, with all concert nights above 85% occupancy.”
Colliers Head of Hotels, Transaction Services, Karen Wales, discussed investment activity amid a slowdown this year, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia Senior Economist, Stephen Wu, said he expects the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates early next year and that hoteliers can expect to see the economy impacted by geopolitical changes.
Booking.com Market Team Manager, Keti Naumovski, said value for money is top of mind for travellers.
“Keti explained that the UK, USA, NZ and Germany are our top international source markets at the moment and Sydney continues to rate highly among Australian and International tourists, and is ranked number 2 in Australian locations to spend Christmas and New Year’s,” according to McBride.
“She said Australian travellers display a robust interest in both domestic and international travel, with a notable preference for longer trips compared to the global average.”