Hotel rooms around Tasmania are being booked out at the same rate as they were pre-pandemic, new winter figures show.
60.47% of available rooms across the state were filled in August, down slightly from 62.04% in July according to the Tasmanian Hospitality Association’s Hotel Occupancy Report.
Southern accommodation providers saw a 0.06% increase last month compared to August last year, however both the north (-11.16%) and north-west (-10.75%) were “down significantly”.
THA chief executive Steve Old said the 3-month figures from June to August saw 61.71% of rooms filled, down 5.39% from last year’s winter.
Despite the drop, Old said the numbers were still ‘riding high from pent-up post-Covid travel demand’.
“I’ve been saying for several months that cooling occupancy levels have not been unexpected given the demand from interstaters travelling to Tasmania post Covid eases,” Old said.
“We know there are a number of factors in play for the decrease in visitation to Tasmania during winter, including the rising of costs to household budgets across the board, high airfares and a desire for a lot of Australians to head overseas this Aussie winter.”
“While the recent announcement of the wider Dark Mofo festival going into recess in 2024 is a blow, it does now present a golden opportunity for the peak bodies to work with Government to find solutions to diversify further with festivals and events in different parts of the state.”
The median room rate for August was $197.41, an increase of more than $14 compared to July and up nearly $13 from August 2022.
