QHA-Review_March_Digital

Judy Hill
ACCOMMODATION UPDATE
4.3 million Australians heading overseas on shortterm
trips. It might still be a far cry from 2019 when
9.4 million incoming tourists (led by Chinese travellers)
virtually made up for more than 10 million outgoing
Australians.
Deloitte’s Australian tourism sector leader Adele
Labine-Romain hails the inbound figures as a ‘pretty
impressive achievement after almost two years of
closed borders’. This was especially so given Australia
is an expensive long-haul destination for most foreign
tourists – especially those flying from the northern
hemisphere. Australians are among the most frequent
travellers to be found anywhere, and our wanderlust
continues, despite economic headwinds. It’s evident
we plan to keep spending on leisure travel according
to the Deloitte Global State of the Consumer Tracker
as of last October.
“Inflation and the cost of everyday purchases is topof-mind
according to their data, but the intention to
spend on travel is staying firm, and that is across
all travel expenditure price points. We are not easily
dissuaded from our plans to travel,” said Ms
Labin-Romain.
The Accommodation Division meetings for 2023 have
now been set with the first meeting on Tuesday 21
February for the Brisbane General Managers and
Thursday 23 February for the Gold Coast General
Managers. Kurt Thomas, Director Hotels Colliers
will be the presenter at both meetings. Given the
beginning of a new year and 2022 was record
breaking in terms of RevPar led by ADR, it’s ideal to
have a presenter who could talk to this context and
demand factors that may need to be considered in
2023 to continue the drive forward for RevPar.
This year the annual Hotel Market & Economic Outlook
event will take on a somewhat different and shorter
style. It will be a breakfast event with an update
from STR, an economist, an update on the Tourism
Accommodation Australia (TAA) /Accommodation
Australia (AA) amalgamation and two additional
presenters pertinent to the accommodation sector
who will provide insights for the purposes of forecasts
and budgets. These events will be delivered in
Brisbane on Tuesday 18 April, the Gold Coast on
Thursday 20 April and FNQ on Tuesday 15 August.
Another addition in this year’s schedule is the holding
of a boardroom lunch in Brisbane Tuesday 13 June
and the Gold Coast Thursday 22 June with both
events including a keynote presenter. Other than
these, additional bimonthly meetings will continue
in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Far North Queensland
together with two meetings planned this year on the
Sunshine Coast.
Thank you to those who have renewed their 2023
membership. An increase in membership levies is
never ideal as we see to minimise costs to members.
However, in order to sustain our Association and
continue to advocate for the industry at a high level
there was a necessary increase in 2023 renewals.
Whilst as a membership organisation we understand
any increase is never ideal as we wish to always
minimise costs to members our stated goal is to keep
representing and advocating for members at a high
level not just this year but well into the future.
Finally at the time of this article the amalgamation
of TAA with AA is on track to take place on 1 July
2023. This amalgamation will result in the QHA’s
Accommodation Division doubling not only in
membership numbers but also with an end result of
27,500 accommodation rooms.
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