With less than a week until New South Wales’ hotel voucher scheme wraps, Australian accommodation representatives are pleading for a program extension – but only for the Sydney CBD.
The extension could bring further relief to Sydney’s struggling hotel industry, though may see Sydney’s upwards-trending average hotel rates remain high for consumers throughout the busy spring and summer events season.
Tourism Accommodation Association (TAA) CEO Michael Johnson said the NSW Stay and Parents vouchers have already helped to stimulate demand and hotel rates across the state.
“If we can continue to stimulate markets then those rates will remain where they are,” Johnson said.
Johnson noted the Stay voucher program was originally created to stimulate hotels in the Sydney CBD, who were disproportionately affected by the loss of international visitors.
“The NSW regions had been very busy as there was a lot of pent-up demand for travel, then when both Sydney and all of NSW went into lockdown, it was agreed that the program should extend right across the state,” said Johnson. “Now there’s an opportunity to put it back to where it was intended, and that is to support the CBD.”
In the last seven days, the NSW government has issued almost 49,000 Stay NSW vouchers totalling $2,445,050, with a record 75,314 redeemed…
