Australia hotel occupancy on a steep decline amid latest COVID-19 lockdowns

After being one of the highest-performing countries during the early portion of 2021, Australia’s hotel occupancy has been on a rapid decline amid the latest COVID-19 lockdowns across the country, according to data from STR through August 1.

“New and extended restrictions amid the latest outbreaks have undoubtedly affected performance in recent weeks,” said Matthew Burke, STR’s regional manager for the Pacific region. “Although winter is likely a precipitating factor for some of the decline, these new restrictions across state borders have meant that a lot of travel is simply not possible. We noted last month that forward-looking data around the country was trending downward, and that has been supported by the actualized figures.”

Markets with longer restrictions have seen occupancy levels below 20 percent. For the week of  July 26–August 1, the STR-defined Sydney Surrounding market, as well as Sydney, posted 15.6 percent and 15.8 percent occupancy level