CBRE analysed a selection of major public and business events held in 2023 and 2024 in Australia’s three eastern seaboard capitals to understand the impact of events on hotel occupancy, revenue and the average daily room rate.
While a different number of events were analysed for each city – six for Sydney, four for Melbourne and five in Brisbane – the top four events combined in Sydney drove fewer additional room nights and less overall revenue that the four events profiled in Melbourne.
The Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve fireworks, Vivid Sydney, World Pride Week in 2023, the NRL Grand Final, the Taylor Swift concerts and Aus Healthcare Week were the events selected in Sydney.
While World Pride drove the largest increase in room nights – 63,300, the New Year’s Eve fireworks provided the biggest revenue boost at $51 million. World Pride, Taylor Swift and Vivid were the top three events in terms of revenue, generating an additional $128.1 million between them. When Aus Healthcare Week is added in, these events generated a total of $137.5 million in additional hotel revenue, with the business event in the mix responsible for a $9.4 million boost.
In Melbourne, the events selected were the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Open tennis, the city’s own run of Taylor Swift concerts and the Australian Tourism Exchange.
The Australian Open generated the most additional room nights at 66,500 in Melbourne while the Grand Prix had the largest financial impact, at $50.1 million. Compared to Sydney, the Melbourne events analysed had a greater impact on hotels, generating $140.1 million in revenue.
Taylor Swift’s concerts in Melbourne also had a larger impact on room nights and revenue than those in Sydney – although there were more concerts held in Sydney than Melbourne – generating over 30,000 more room nights and $3.5 million more in revenue.
Brisbane’s events suggest it is some way behind its two larger compatriots, with its five events combined generating significantly less economic impact to hotels than each of Sydney and Melbourne’s single largest events.
The CBRE report suggested Melbourne’s hotel boom may have softened the potential revenue boost to hotels during events given the city’s deep inventory. Hotel room stock in Melbourne has grown by more than 30 per cent since 2019.
Sydney’s ADR peaked at $776 over New Year’s Eve, while Melbourne’s peak was substantially lower at $473, during the F1 Grand Prix.
“Our analysis revealed high-profile events have a more substantial effect on both rate growth and occupancy demand,” said CBRE’s head of hotels research, Ally Gibson.
“However, many of these events have fewer impact days and may generate less room revenue compared to those held over longer durations.”
