“The success of Mega May has reinforced the city’s positioning as a top-tier destination for both sport and business tourism ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games,” the report says.
While most Australian city hotel performances during May reflected the onset of winter with lower revenues, Brisbane posted strongly improved results across the board, reflecting new record monthly averages.
Brisbane recorded year-on-year growth across all criteria with the nation’s highest revenue per available room (RevPAR) at $210.92, up substantially, by 17.4 per cent, as well as the highest average daily rate (ADR) of $282.02, an improvement of 16.6 per cent. The city also showed slight growth in occupancy for the month, improved by 0.6 per cent.
The results for Brisbane were attributed to its calendar of high-profile events, beginning with the Australian Tourism Exchange, followed by major events including the NRL Magic Round and State of Origin, the World Angus Forum, the Brisbane Truck Show and the Global Resources Innovation Expo (GRX25).
Traditionally Sydney and Perth rank first in both ADR and RevPAR, but Brisbane took the lead in May with Sydney and Adelaide closest behind.
Sydney and Perth had the nation’s highest occupancies of 77.4 per cent and 77.2 per cent, with Sydney up 6.7 per cent and Perth down only 0.5 per cent.
Melbourne’s over-supply of hotel rooms, following a period of new hotel development that has added more than 5,000 rooms to the city, is reflected in the figures which show occupancy at 70.4 per cent, the average daily room rate at $197.60 and revenue per available room at $138.10.
Echoing the usual flight to the sun as the winter chill sets in down south, Gold Coast hotels also improved overall performance, especially ADR, which was at $248.72, but had one of the lowest occupancy figures at 62 per cent.
