Average occupancy in Melbourne during October was 75.3 per cent with an ADR (average daily rate) of $221.44. Both of these figures are up about 4 per cent on October 2023.
Cities leading occupancy and ADR around the country were Perth at 84.9 per cent and $234.20, Sydney at 81.3 per cent and $283.48, and Brisbane at 81.1 per cent and $250.43.
October 2024 was Brisbane’s best monthly performance, up 8.9 per cent compared with October 2023, causing Accommodation Australia to comment: “Brisbane continues to benefit from it expanding reputation as a regional hub for business events and conferences, supported by new tourism infrastructure and leisure events”.
Accommodation Australia cited the impact of business events during the month in Brisbane, including the IFLA World Library and Information Congress for 1,500 delegates; the International Conference on Legume Genetics and Genomics (ICLGG) 2024 for 400 delegates; the AgForce QLD Agricultural Industry Conference 2024 for 500 delegates; and the Options XII for the Control of Influenza Conference for 1,400 delegates.
Data from Tourism Research Australia also shows a 20.5 per cent year-on-year surge in domestic business-related travel in the 12 months to June this year.
Whether Melbourne’s figures are suffering due to its ongoing hotel building boom, the cost of living or the Trump effect as uncertainty causes leisure travellers and corporates alike to keep a tighter grip on the purse strings, it is difficult to say. However Melbourne’s latest results are only slightly better than Canberra at 73.9 per cent occupancy and Darwin at 58.3 per cent – Australia’s two worst performing capitals.
Looking at the yield for hotels, shown by RevPAR (revenue per available room), this was the one bright spot for Melbourne with RevPAR rising nine per cent compared with October 2023.
Again, Brisbane outpaced the rest to grow its RevPAR by 23.6 per cent compared to last October, recording $203.12 and Sydney hotels averaged $230.59. Gold Coast was stronger by almost 10 per cent with RevPAR of $217.59. Only Adelaide showed negative growth across all three measures in October.
November and December are expected to see improved hotel performance in both business events and leisure.
