The year 2017 is going to witness a record high in the hotel sector in Australia thanks to a large number of hotel openings in this country. Fresh hotels are scheduled to open in Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Some of this new supply would automatically put a downward pressure on daily room rates and also the occupancy levels in weaker markets like Perth and Brisbane.
However, in Melbourne and Sydney, the occupancies are close to 90% at the luxury end. Expectations continue for new supply to be matched by the rising demand. Wayne Bunz who is the director of CBRE Hotels said that 2017 is going to be an outstanding year with regard to new hotel openings.
There would be more new supply coming on board on a weekly basis in Australia.
The trend has gradually transitioned from investment to new development in the hotel sector in the nation. And, in the last few decades this is the strongest run. And, experts feel that such a growing demand for new hotels have been spurted by a large number of domestic and overseas tourists.
The forecasts of Tourism Research Australia claim that the arrival of international visitors to Australia would rise to 8.3% this financial year to an overwhelming 8.3 million and it would be led by China.
Also, it would reach 12.3 million by 2024-2025.
The domestic visitor nights are forecast to reach 432 million by 2024-2025 that marks a rise from 340 million, as declared by TRA.
The biggest challenge according to Wayne Bunz is that the assets that would enable them to buy hotels are limited.
CBRE had recorded $2.5 billion worth of hotel deals last year. This figure marked a decrease from $3.9 billion hotel deals that were negotiated in 2015.
Among the new hotels that would be opened is the 600-room Sofitel Hotel at Darling Harbour at the International Convention Centre.
Developed by Lendlease, the hotel, owned by Jerry Schwartz who is a hotel magnate would be the first five-star luxury hotel to be opened in Sydney in the last 20 years.
A new Four Points hotel operated by Starwood would be opened at Docklands.
In addition, a new Hyatt Place business hotel would be opened at Essendon Airport, Brisbane Airport would be adding 373 new rooms when two hotels including an Ibis and Pullman are opened this year.
