{"id":11261,"date":"2021-05-05T05:03:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T05:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=11261"},"modified":"2021-05-05T05:03:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T05:03:48","slug":"aprils-events-see-hotel-occupancy-bounce-back-to-pre-covid-19-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/05\/05\/aprils-events-see-hotel-occupancy-bounce-back-to-pre-covid-19-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"April\u2019s events see hotel occupancy bounce back to pre-COVID-19 levels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Newcastle\u2019s visitor economy received a major economic injection as a result of the City\u2019s\u00a0<em>Event Packed April<\/em>\u00a0with industry data showing the accommodation sector returning to pre-COVID occupancy levels.<br \/>\nAccording to the Australian Accommodation Monitor Reports, demand for accommodation in Newcastle during the first fortnight in April saw occupancy levels sitting between 80-90% most days. The average daily rate for rooms increased by $52 per night, resulting in a 29% uplift in room revenue compared to the same period in 2019.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Newcastle-Cup-and-SailFest-2021.JPG\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au\/getattachment\/Council\/News\/Latest-News\/April-s-events-see-hotel-occupancy-bounce-back-to-\/Newcastle-Cup-and-SailFest-2021.JPG\" alt=\"Newcastle-Cup-and-SailFest-2021.JPG\" \/><br \/>\nCity of Newcastle\u2019s\u00a0<em>Event Packed April<\/em>\u00a0was spearheaded by the World Surf League (WSL) Newcastle Cup along with SailFest Newcastle Regatta, Newcastle Seafood Festival, Newcastle Food Month, AoN Women\u2019s University Rugby 7s and NewRun Newcastle Festival of Running.<br \/>\nLord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said there is significant opportunity for an event-led economic recovery in Newcastle and it is evident in the newly released data that events are a ticket to driving Newcastle\u2019s visitor economy toward long-term growth.<br \/>\n\u201cCity of Newcastle\u2019s April events calendar returned impressive results for Newcastle\u2019s tourism and hospitality businesses still on the road to recovery, \u201cCr Nelmes said.<br \/>\n\u201cPre-COVID, our city\u2019s hotels, once filled mid-week with corporate business travellers, saw their occupancy levels sitting at 80-90% again most days, thanks to the WSL Newcastle Cup and the City\u2019s bumper April events calendar.\u201d<br \/>\nA pipeline of new hotel product is under construction, including the five-star Kingsley in the former City Administration Centre set to open in June, Doma\u2019s Little National Hotel, Iris Capital\u2019s QT Hotel, and with plans underway to develop the historic Newcastle Post Office into a conference and function space.<br \/>\n\u201cWith a fresh injection of new hotel supply, the City\u2019s ability to pitch for major events will only boost its appeal as a host city and position Newcastle ahead of other destinations,\u201d Cr Nelmes said.<br \/>\n\u201cWe are in the early stages of rolling out Newcastle\u2019s newly adopted Destination Management Plan, designed to reposition the city as a premier tourism destination with a strong focus on events, natural assets and cultural heritage, with a raft of initiatives and projects designed to grow our visitor economy and increase visitor spend.\u201d<br \/>\nCity of Newcastle continues to invest and support Newcastle&#8217;s visitor economy through the Product Development and Mentoring Program, the development and implementation of the highly targeted WhoKnew destination awareness campaign, and destination marketing partnerships with Destination NSW and Newcastle Airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Newcastle\u2019s visitor economy received a major economic injection as a result of the City\u2019s\u00a0Event Packed April\u00a0with industry data showing the accommodation sector returning to pre-COVID occupancy levels. According to the Australian Accommodation Monitor Reports, demand for accommodation in Newcastle during the first fortnight in April saw occupancy levels sitting between 80-90% most days. The average &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/05\/05\/aprils-events-see-hotel-occupancy-bounce-back-to-pre-covid-19-levels\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;April\u2019s events see hotel occupancy bounce back to pre-COVID-19 levels&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}