MARCH KEY FIGURES

Accommodation with 15 rooms or more		Dec Qtr 11	Mar Qtr 12	Dec Qtr 11 to Mar Qtr 12	Mar Qtr 11 to Mar Qtr 12
Trend
	Takings from accommodation ($m)	2 187.9	2 214.4	1.2 %	5.8 %
	Room occupancy rate (%)	65.9	65.9	0.0 pts	1.1 pts
Seasonally Adjusted
	Takings from accommodation ($m)	2 177.4	2 228.6	2.4 %	8.4 %
	Room occupancy rate (%)	65.7	66.1	0.4 pts	2.0 pts
Note: Hotels, Motels and Serviced Apartments with 15 or more rooms

Source(s): Tourist Accommodation, Australia

Source(s): Tourist Accommodation, Australia

MARCH KEY POINTS


ACCOMMODATION TAKINGS

• In the March quarter 2012, the trend estimate of total accommodation takings for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms increased by 1.2% to $2214.4 million compared with the December quarter 2011.
• Over the same period, the seasonally adjusted estimate increased by 2.4% to $2228.6 million.

ROOM OCCUPANCY RATE

• The March quarter 2012 trend estimate room occupancy rate for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms remained unchanged at 65.9% when compared with the previous quarter.
• Over the same period, the seasonally adjusted estimate increased by 0.4 percentage points to 66.1%.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2012 September 2012	28 September 2012 4 January 2013

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This issue presents results from the March quarter 2012 Survey of Tourist Accommodation (STA) for the following categories of establishments:

• hotels and resorts with 15 or more rooms
• motels, private hotels and guest houses with 15 or more rooms
• serviced apartments with 15 or more units

CHANGES TO THIS PUBLICATION

The PDF component of this product has been discontinued. Individual tables that were previously included in the PDF publication are available as a data cube on the Downloads page.


GEOGRAPHY CHANGES

The March quarter 2012 release of STA data is the first to incorporate the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) as the geographical framework for the collection. Detailed information on the transition of the STA to the ASGS and how the data is impacted by this change is contained in Information Paper: Future Changes to Tourist Accommodation, Australia (cat. no. 8635.0.55.003)

A summary of the main changes resulting from the move to ASGS are:

• Small area data is now produced at Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), replacing Statistical Local Areas (SLA).
• Tourism Regions (TRs) will be constructed from allocations of SA2s and as a result will change. For some TRs, these changes are minimal.
• Data for Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Special area - Brisbane City Core will no longer be produced.

STAR RATING

AAA Tourism manages the scheme that applies STAR Ratings to accommodation establishments. This scheme has undergone a strategic review resulting in changes to the application of STAR Ratings. The changes to STAR Rating will be introduced to the STA collection over the coming quarters. Further enquiries on changes to the STAR Rating system should be directed to stars@aaatourism.com.au.



INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


ORIGINAL

Hotels, motels and serviced apartments

This summary contains key findings for original estimates. Original series are impacted by seasonal variations and irregular or non-seasonal influences. Comparison between quarters should be made with caution.

Accommodation takings

In the March quarter 2012, accommodation takings were $2252.0 million for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms.

Accommodation takings in the March quarter 2012 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms were highest in New South Wales ($733.6 million) and Queensland ($529.7 million). The Northern Territory recorded the lowest takings for the period ($45.2 million).

For Australia, the March quarter 2012 average takings per room night occupied were $164.87 for establishments with 15 or more rooms. This was 3.2% higher than the March quarter 2011 ($159.76).

Room occupancy rate

The room occupancy rate for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms was 66.3% in the March quarter 2012.

Traditionally, hotels have higher occupancy rates than motels or serviced apartments. Over the March 2012 quarter, hotels had an occupancy rate of 72.0% compared with 58.6% for motels and 69.1% for serviced apartments.

Six out of the eight states and territories experienced an increase in the occupancy rate of hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms between the March quarter 2011 and the March quarter 2012. Queensland (62.3%) experienced the largest increase (4.2 percentage points). Over the same period, occupancy in Tasmania (71.4%) decreased by 1.1 percentage points.

The Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest occupancy rate (73.6%) in the March quarter 2012 followed by Tasmania (71.4%) and Western Australia (70.2%). Over the same period, the Northern Territory experienced the lowest occupancy rate (53.1%).

Room nights Occupied

Room nights occupied were 13.7 million in the March quarter 2012 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms.

New South Wales contributed the largest proportion (31.5%) of room nights occupied for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms, followed by Queensland (25.4%).

Average Length of Stay

The average length of stay over the March quarter 2012 for hotels, motels and serviced apartments with 15 or more rooms was 2.3 days. Queensland reported the longest average length of stay (2.8 days) followed by Western Australia (2.6 days). Tasmania had the shortest average length of stay (2.0 days).