Tasmania’s accommodation sector has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, with the latest figures showing close to three-quarters of hotel rooms available throughout last year were booked.
The Tasmanian Hospitality Association’s December ‘Hotel Occupancy Report’ revealed that the annual occupancy from January 2023 to December 2023 came in at 73.29%.
THA’s Chief Executive Steve Old acknowledged that while this was slightly lower than the record-breaking 76.24% seen in 2022, 2023 still managed to come close to the pre-pandemic annual average of 74.84% of booked rooms from 2015-2019.
“Tasmania’s hospitality industry faced numerous challenges throughout 2023, but after everything that was thrown at us during the pandemic we are well equipped to tackle them head on,” Old said.
“2022 was a record year with accommodation figures off the charts, that was always going to dip at some point and what we saw last year, as I have said on numerous occasions, was a normalisation to those pre-pandemic figures.
He said despite economic uncertainties, cost of living pressures and increased international travel by Australians, Tasmania remained a desirable destination.
“The challenge for industry now, in consultation with the State Government, Tourism Tasmania, TICT and our regional partners, is to ensure the state can continue to draw visitors in what is becoming a hotly contested market,” he said.
“We must keep investing in events, investing in infrastructure and investing in jobs and training.”
In December, which had its biggest booked out month since 2017, 81.46% of rooms were booked in the north, 81.39% in the south, 70.99% in the northwest and 67.3% on the east coast – all at a median room rate of $217.38.
