Australia claimed an impressive six places in the top 20 in the 2007 Deloitte Hotel Occupancy Global Ranking Index – more than any other country – with Perth and Brisbane taking first and forth place respectively while Melbourne ranked ninth, Sydney 13th, Adelaide 14th and Cairns 17th.

The fifth edition of the Deloitte Global Ranking Index compares the performance of 165 cities outside North America. Information is extracted from Deloitte’s HotelBenchmark Survey database which tracks the performance of over 7800 hotels. The majority of the hotels are classified three star and above.

Deloitte’s lead partner of the Real Estate Group in Australia, Ian Breedon, said Western Australia’s strong economy combined with no major hotel developments underway meant business had been excellent for Perth’s hoteliers.

“A total of 4.5 million passengers passed through Perth airport in 2007 with international passenger growth up 16.7% and domestic up 12.1%. It is not surprising the west’s hoteliers had a great 2007 with occupancy rates at 85.1% and with the continuing strong economy there are good signs for property investors in the hotel market in WA,” Mr Breedon said.

The other five Australian cities in the top 20 had also performed impressively having achieved occupancy of more than 80%.

Mr Breedon added the report indicated the number of airline passengers will treble in the next 20 years, with huge rises in demand across Asia Pacific.

“The advances in aviation with larger, more efficient aircraft, will bring to our shores many more visitors, especially from Asia. This will obviously push up the demand for more hotel space. The opportunities for property investors in this area are very encouraging,” Mr Breedon said.

The report also noted that Sydney made the top 20 in the revenue per available room (revPAR) Global Ranking Index. Its 18th place was a jump of 15 positions from 2006.

All major Australian cities in Australia achieved double-digit revenue per available room (revPAR) growth in 2007.

Copies of the report are available at http://www.deloitte.com.au