He also notes that the prospects for Brisbane are especially positive thanks to the Australian Tourism Exchange in May and June, the Goodwill Games in August and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October.

The monthly survey of eight cities with a total of 45,000 rooms, saw an overall 2% fall in RevPAR, largely due to Downtown Sydney's 4% decline in occupancy and 6% drop off in RevPAR. For Suburban Sydney the figures were much lower, with occupancy down by 15% and RevPAR by 19%.

The only city that showed significant average room rate growth, 4%, was Hobart, the latest addition to the survey. The Northern Territory saw a 2.7% increase in RevPAR while Adelaide rates slipped 3% although its RevPAR was down only 1% because of increasing occupancy rates. Canberra's RevPAR dipped 5% and Melbourne held steady compared to the first quarter of last year.