Accommodation Australia has welcomed a “positive” start to 2025 with solid accommodation bookings over the January school holiday period.
Data from STR shows occupancy levels are up across key cities for the same period last year.
“Heading into January, Sydney is up 2%, Melbourne [up] 3%, Brisbane [up] 4% Adelaide [up] 1% and Hobart up 18%,” said Accommodation Australia CEO James Goodwin.
“Importantly, this is broad-based demand not tied to specific events like an international concert extravaganza – like we saw with Taylor Swift in February 2024, and we hope this should continue through 2025.
“This is a particularly good result given international tourists are still at only 88% of pre-Covid levels and family budgets are obviously tight with cost-of-living pressures.
Goodwin said people are prioritising a holiday and experiencing new things this holiday period, with occupancy levels over the Christmas period better than this time last year across most big cities.
“Overall, we have also seen a strong finish to 2024, with YTD occupancy at 71.4% (up 1.8%),” Goodwin said, pointing to “promising” occupancy levels on the books for the next three months.
“This positive trajectory suggests occupancy will surpass 2024 performance,” he added.