Western Australia continues to have a diverse hotel accommodation sector with metropolitan and mining regions outperforming tourism regions according to the latest release of occupancy rates by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Australian Hotels Association (AHA) WA industry data.
AHA (WA) CEO Bradley Woods said the latest occupancy rates show a competitive industry in the Perth metropolitan and North West region which is attracting needed investment, while tourism regions in the south west continue to struggle.
“In the June 2012 quarter, Perth and Karratha recorded hotel occupancy rates of 78.6% and 79.6% respectively, while in tourism regions, such as Margaret River, it is a very different story,” he said.
“The South West recorded an average hotel occupancy rate of 46.5% according to the latest ABS report released [last Friday, October 5].
“Perth appears to maintain high occupancy rates, however our data shows a difference in occupancy rates when comparing Monday through Thursday, when it is difficult to find rooms available, with the weekends when business travelers return home.
“The average price of a hotel room in Perth is $205.19 per night. There are competitive prices for tourists who book their holiday travel in advance and plan to stay in Perth on the weekends while visiting our extraordinary tourism regions during the week.
“Recent initiatives by the State Government, including the announcement of a new regional marketing campaign to generate tourism in regional Western Australia and the upcoming Gourmet Escape event in Margaret River would hopefully result in a boost for those tourism regions which are currently doing it tough,” Woods said.