Sydney snatches back top tourism status from Melbourne for upcoming Easter holidays

The Harbour City is Australia’s top domestic travel spot this Easter, ending Melbourne’s reign as hotel vacancy rates in that city nearly double from a year ago.

Sydney has snatched back its crown from Melbourne as Australians’ top domestic travel destination for the upcoming Easter holiday period.

Sydney has snatched back its crown from Melbourne as Australia’s top domestic travel destination for the upcoming Easter holiday period, flight and hotel bookings show.

In the wake of borders reopening after extended Covid lockdowns, Melbourne had consistently been the top pick as visitors flocked to the Victorian capital to see family and friends, and explore the city.

But new data from booking site Skyscanner and Tourism Accommodation Australia suggested Sydney would have more tourists than Melbourne during the typically busy Easter break.

Perth was also increasing in popularity, leapfrogging Brisbane to be the third-hottest domestic travel destination, Skyscanner revealed.

Tourism Accommodation Australia CEO Michael Johnson said there was still plenty of room at the inn in the major gateways, with STR data showing Sydney CBD hotel occupancy in the high 60-70 per­centage range for Easter.

Melbourne city hotels were sitting around 50 per cent occupancy, well down on last Easter when up to 90 per cent of rooms were booked, Mr Johnson said.

Brisbane was also in the 50s rather than the 60s, while Perth hotels were already in the high 60s, and as much as 30 per cent up on pre-Covid figures.

“Sydney and surrounds are looking quite healthy – up to 80 per cent occupancy and the traditional holiday hot spots such as Wollongong, Blue Mountains and Newcastle are going to do extremely well,” Mr Johnson said. “There’s some great events on in Sydney like the Royal Easter Show and that always brings a lot of interest.”

He said Melbourne had just had a “massive weekend” due to the Australian Grand Prix, and had more inventory available following the opening of Le Meridien and the Ritz-Carlton.

Perth is enjoying a new-found status as a lifestyle city, making it attractive to holiday-makers and business travellers alike.

Brisbane was holding relatively steady, and Perth was enjoying a new-found status as a “lifestyle” city that offered benefits for residents and holiday-makers alike.

“It’s still great to see Australians taking a holiday in their back yard and long may it continue,” Mr Johnson said.

“We’re finding the regions are busier now than ever. We just need those international travellers back.”

A Destination NSW spokeswoman said the latest iteration of their Feel New campaign aimed to keep Sydney and the state front of mind when booking travel over Easter.

“These campaigns are live in South East Queensland, Victoria and regional NSW, encouraging everyone to get out and appreciate the beauty and wonder of NSW,” she said.

Over the five days from Thursday to Easter Monday, Qantas and Jetstar were expecting to carry 620,000 people, compared to 601,000 in the same period last year. Thursday loomed as the busiest day, with 120,000 people booked to fly on almost 1200 services.

Virgin Australia had 25 per cent more bookings this Easter compared to last, and had done a “huge amount of preparation” to ensure everyone made it to their destination on time.

“This includes adding extra services to popular destinations including the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Cairns, Tasmania and Adelaide,” a Virgin spokeswoman said.

The Qantas Group remained hopeful travellers would not experience the same sort of dramas as over Easter last year, after significant increases in staff and standby aircraft.

Since then, almost 3500 people had been recruited to support increased travel and reserve staffing levels were being boosted by 20 per cent to cover for any sick leave.

Virgin’s staff numbers were also much healthier and the airline said call centre waiting times were down to a mere 22 seconds.

Originally published as Sydney snatches back top tourism status from Melbourne for upcoming Easter holidays