The need for more investment in hotel accommodation in Sydney will be exacerbated by the recent deals to secure new international flights to the city, says the Board of Tourism New South Wales.
The Board’s chairman, Leslie Cassar, said forecast growth in international visitors to Sydney is 4.6 million in 2016 from 2.7 million in 2007. “This urgent need for extra accommodation also represents a great opportunity for the private sector,” he said.
“This is all good news for Sydney and the New South Wales economy, but we need to do our best to make sure the private sector grasps the opportunity. To that end, the Board has recently created an investment sub committee with the aim of connecting the private sector with Government to facilitate investment in tourism in general and it is looking at accommodation as a priority.”
The NSW Government’s State Plan has as one of its goals the attraction of an extra 10 million visitor nights to NSW and the lobby body Tourism and Transport Forum—of which Cassar is the recently retired chairman—has estimated an extra 2500 hotel rooms would be required to meet this goal.
“[Sydney Airport CEO] Russell Balding has told the Board that Sydney Airport is forecasting a rise from the current 31 million passengers through the airport last year to more than 68 million passengers a year within 20 years,” Cassar said.
The Tourism NSW Board comprises industry experts including Balding, Narendra Kumar, an executive general manager with Qantas, John Thorpe, outgoing president of the Australian Hotels Association and Denis Pierce, managing director of ATS Pacific, a leading inbound tourism operator.