Tourism a year away from full recovery: Paul Little

The billionaire is opening his first hotel, Hyatt Centric Melbourne, just as his home city starts to recover from Covid shutdowns.

Paul Little will open the doors on his 277-room Hyatt Centric Melbourne hotel on Wednesday. Picture: Sam D'Agostino

Billionaire Paul Little believes the Australian tourism sector will not return to pre-pandemic levels for at least another 12 months, but is forecasting a bumper summer if there are no more significant Covid disruptions.

Mr Little will open the doors of the first hotel in his investment portfolio on Wednesday, when the 277-room Hyatt Centric Melbourne begins operating.

The $150m hotel is a shift from Mr Little’s previous investments in property, which have primarily been focused on the residential sector through building inner-city apartments or subdivisions in outer suburbs.

Mr Little told The Australian there was “pent up” demand for hotel rooms in Melbourne as the city emerges from the best part of two years in lockdown ahead of a summer of events including the Boxing Day cricket Test, the Australian Open next January and then the Australian Grand Prix in April.

“From the point of view of demand, there’s no doubt we’ve got our timing right,” Mr Little said, while revealing Covid had delayed the building of the hotel on the site of a 1840s blacksmiths he had paid $28.6m for in 2018.

“We’ve already got reasonably encouraging bookings through the Hyatt network and there’s that pent-up demand when you think of the events that are coming up, like the cricket. I know with the Grand Prix (Mr Little is the race’s chairman) we’ve had amazing demand for tickets and the tennis has been the same.

“There’s a lot of theatres booking out, the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria).

“Wherever you look there’s solid demand for tourism in Melbourne, and I think we’re going to have a good summer.”

Mr Little said it was imperative that “we learn to live with it (Covid) and get on with things” when asked about the prospect of shutdowns should the Omicron variant strike fear into government and health authorities.

But he said even with a smooth summer a full recovery for tourism was some time away.

“Pre-Covid we were looking reasonably comfortable as a state and country and it‘ll take until this time next year before we get some really stronger numbers to compare to what things were like two years ago.”

The Hyatt Centric Melbourne is situated across the river from Crown Casino in Melbourne’s emerging southern end of the CBD and Mr Little said it was likely to attract a younger clientele than purely business travellers.

Set across 25 levels, the hotel includes a cafe and restaurant that focus on Victorian produce and cuisine, which Mr Little said should be a selling point, an indoor events floor and a dedicated outdoor space for personalised events and celebrations.

“It is at an interesting end of town and will probably be for people who want a Melbourne experience. The alleyways and street art are prominent at that end and the hotel is set up for Victorian produce, wine and beer. So there’s a lot of that local flavour.”