STR’s preliminary July 2016 data for Sydney, Australia, indicates positive performance driven by rate. Based on daily data from July, Sydney reported the following in year-over-year comparisons: increases in supply (+3.4%) and demand (+3.5%); a 0.1% increase in occupancy to 83.4%; a 6.5% increase in average daily rate (ADR) to AUD198.20; and a 6.7% increase in revenue per available room …

Aussie millennials will do anything to catch ’em all, with an overwhelming 72% planning on playing Pokémon Go on their next holiday, according to new research. Hotels.com studied Aussie millennial travellers and found that more than a third (37%) will consider travelling abroad or domestically to new destinations in order to find more Pokémon, and 38% said they would choose …

South-East Queensland has welcomed its newest holiday park to the region with the opening of Rivershore Resort, a luxury holiday park on the Sunshine Coast. Overlooking the Maroochy River, the BIG4 holiday park offers a variety of accommodation options for travellers from campsites to luxury glamping. The park features 80 spacious camping and caravan sites, 13 king safari tents and …

Strong international demand for package bookings to Australia has been reported in the latest data from Expedia. The group’s data for the first half of 2016 highlights a 50% increase in international demand for Australian packages, compared with the same period in 2015. Interestingly, data from the same period also showed package guests stayed an average of nearly four days, …

Jan Smits, CEO of the Intercontinental Hotels Group for Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMEA), has said that while many traditional industries are in decline, tourism and hospitality are booming and will continue to grow into the future. The global tourism and hospitality industry currently encompasses 266 million jobs and by 2024, it is estimated that the industry will have …

Visit Sunshine Coast (VSC) chair, Grant Hunt, announced today that Simon Latchford had been appointed as the regional tourism organisation’s new chief executive officer. Mr Latchford, who has been with VSC as director of marketing and strategic partnerships for the past two years, had been acting in the role of CEO for the past 10 weeks. His appointment by the …

Choice Hotels Asia-Pac, one of Australia’s largest hotel franchise groups, has announced the addition of three new properties to its portfolio in Western Australia – the Comfort Inn & Suites Goodearth Perth, the Quality Hotel Ambassador Perth and the Econo Lodge Karratha. The two new Perth CBD hotels, are located on Adelaide Terrace, in the heart of vibrant East Perth. …

Sunshine Coast Airport has finished an incredible year of achievements on a high, once again breaking passenger number records and topping national growth charts. The 12 months from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 saw 964,362 passengers use Sunshine Coast Airport – a 13% increase year on year and the highest recorded passenger numbers for a 12-month period. The …

Building on the Queensland edition of the ABMA Building Management Code, the ABMA has announced the release of the New South Wales and Victorian editions of the code. In a new statement, ABMA said: “By joining forces with our independent review panel members in these states we can assure the industry that the guiding principles will support compliance in each …

Formerly known as World of Accor, the AccorHotels Showcase 2016 will take place at Sofitel Sydney Wentworth providing travel agents, wholesalers, corporate clients, tourism partners and MICE organisers the opportunity to discover AccorHotels accommodation trends, news and stunning resorts from across the world.