The resilience of the Gold Coast hotel market was a top talking point at the South East Queensland Hotel Market and Economic Update, held last week.
Over 100 hotel industry leaders came together for the Gold Coast event, which was hosted by the Accommodation Association (AA), in conjunction with Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA) and Queensland Hotels Association.
TAA CEO Michael Johnson pointed to STR’s reports that Gold Coast hotels outperformed the same 28 days in 2019 by 47% in revenue per available room.
“Data from Paul Hammond from STR showed how resilient the Gold Coast has been throughout the last two years with the initial support of the local Brisbane market and then interstate markets after borders reopened across the country,” Johnson said.
General Managers and department heads attended the market update, which provided an opportunity to discuss COVID impact and recovery.
Johnson pointed to BDO’s outlook and an industry panel discussion as key highlights.
“The Economic Outlook from Rob Hoffman from BDO was very insightful including how the current inflation rate of 5.1% and the increase in mortgage rates will have a detrimental effect on consumer spending,” Johnson said.
The proposed amalgamation of AA and TAA was also discussed at the event, following the second meeting of the national boards held the previous day.
AA CEO Richard Munro said the merger process is on track.
“We have effective pre-election commitments coming from the Labor Government in support of the AA’s Hub for training and education needs and a real feeling of optimism for our sector,” Munro said.
“The theme at the hosted event in the Marquee at The Star was clear, that the accommodation industry was hit hard, is bouncing back and is a fun industry to work in.”