Momentum from the Commonwealth Games in April has spurred the Gold Coast to claim the title of Australia’s top-performing hotel market of 2018, according to new CBRE data out today.
Queensland’s ‘Glitter Strip‘ closed the year with a 9.4 per cent jump in RevPAR, also up 7.6 per cent in ADR to a $202 per night average, with enough of a spike coming around the two-week event to sustain the destination with a steady stream of international visitors for the remainder of the year. Occupancy was a little more volatile but closed the year with an average improvement of 1.7 per cent.
CBRE Senior Research Manager, Danny Lee, said the Gold Coast was still riding the wave of positive exposure following the showpiece Commonwealth Games.
“The 2018 Commonwealth Games provided a welcome shot in the arm for the Gold Coast’s tourism industry, with increased exposure to offshore markets driving up international visitation to the region by 4% for the year,” Lee said.
He warned the landscape on the Gold Coast was set to become ultra-competitive as more than 900 new rooms entered the market over the next three years and a lack of diversification meaning hoteliers would need to be on their game to maintain room sales.
The other standout performer of the year was Canberra, with RevPAR up 4.4 per cent to $139 and both ADR and Occupancy performing well, up 2 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively. Corporate travel and holidaymakers visiting friends and family were cited as the primary catalysts behind this growth.
Like the Gold Coast, a glut of more than 1,300 new rooms opening in Canberra over the next three years may pose a risk of oversupply, hampering further growth opportunities.
CBRE also noted a third of the hotel real estate sales took place in the final quarter of the year, with more than $600 million in hotel assets changing hands and Asian investors being particularly active during this time. Offshore investors accounted for more than 42 per cent of hotel sales, the report found.