This week’s Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Hotel Industry Conference (ANZPHIC) at Hilton Sydney is set to see significant attention placed on Perth, with a high-level delegation from Western Australia highlighting opportunities for owners and brands at the two-day event.
The delegation is being led by the newly-appointed Chairman of Tourism WA Peter Prendiville, and also includes representatives from the newly created Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA), the Pilbara Cities, WA’s land and property developer Landcorp, the WA Australian Hotels Association and the Tourism Council of WA.
Western Australia’s record levels of industry investment, rapidly growing population and high occupancy rates are creating promising tourism investment in the state’s capital city, Perth, and that’s something the state is looking to capitalise on.
With a number of high investment projects under construction or planned, Perth is undergoing rejuvenation to provide a cosmopolitan hub for the growing residential and business populations.
The AUD$440 million Perth waterfront project Elizabeth Quay will transform 10 hectares of prime riverfront land into a vibrant and contemporary development, reconnecting the central business district with the Swan River. The development will be set around a 2.7 hectare inlet and be connected by promenades and boardwalks.
In addition to the WA Government’s AUD$440 million funding, the project is expected to attract AUD$2.2 billion of private sector investment.
When completed, Elizabeth Quay will provide more than 1,700 residential, hotel or serviced apartments and nearly 1950,000 square metres of office and retail space.
The Elizabeth Quay development is running concurrently with three other key city centre projects valued at over AU$200 million: Perth City Link, Riverside and the Perth Cultural Centre.
These projects build on Perth’s already strong hotel investment market. Of the 47 best performing Asia-Pacific hotel markets, Perth is in the top ten for both yield and occupancy – which is over 85 per cent.
Further to that, recent surveys by STR Global and BIS Shrapnel have confirmed that Perth is the strongest performing capital city hotel market in Australia, leading the market in occupancy 85.4 per cent, ARR $208.52, and room yield of $178.84 and room yield growth 17.4 per cent.
The Perth hotel market has experienced the strongest sustained period of room rate growth and occupancy out of the ten major Australian hotel markets.
Last year Western Australia experienced seven per cent growth in international visitor numbers, while the tourism industry generated over 73,000 jobs and injected over AU$5.9 billion into the Western Australian economy.