Beyond the Peak: What the Australian Accommodation Barometer Reveals About Beating Seasonality

Australia does not have one tourism calendar.

Summer holidays, beach travel, tropical dry seasons, major events, school breaks and public holidays create different demand patterns across the country. A city hotel in Sydney, a resort in Queensland, a regional motel in Western Australia and a holiday park in Tasmania are not solving the same seasonality problem.

Tourism Australia puts it plainly: the country is “bustling at certain times of the year, quiet at others, and builds momentum in between.” It also points to spring and autumn as periods when travel can be more affordable and less crowded.

We partnered up with Statista to survey 250 entrepreneurs, executives and managers for Australia Accommodation Barometer, which revealed an industry on the up and up. Around two-thirds of respondents reported positive trends in occupancy in 2024; nearly half said they planned to increase investments.

Yet even in a strong year, every hospitality operator faces the same age-old dilemma: how to smooth the demand curve and make quieter periods less quiet and more revenue-generating.

The most common low-season strategy is digital distribution: 55% of Australian accommodation providers collaborate with digital travel platforms to promote off-season availability. Flexible booking and cancellation policies follow at 45%. Hosting events, conferences or retreats stands at 38%, as does modifying staff levels and operations to match seasonal demand.

The age-old pricing strategies are an important part of the mix. Some 37% of Australian hoteliers use special rates, discounts or bundled packages during off-peak seasons, long weekends or public holidays. Another 31% partner up with local attractions, cultural organisations or tourism boards to develop year-round offerings. The same share of hospitality entrepreneurs expand or adapt properties to include weather-independent amenities.

Ultimately, the operators are combining distribution channels, rates and conditions flexibility, events, staffing and local partnerships rather than relying on one lever.

When asked which channels and strategies are effective in securing off-season stays, 82% of Australian accommodation providers pointed to digital travel platforms, the highest-rated channel in the survey. Paid search ads followed at 64%, partnerships with wedding and event planners at 63%, and traditional travel agents at 62%.

This is the practical role of online travel agencies. Visitors cannot book what they do not find. Booking.com  helps people compare destinations, accommodation types, prices and availability in one place. Smaller and independent properties gain access to prospective customers that are difficult to reach through direct marketing alone.

Tourism Research Australia describes business events as important contributors to the visitor economy because they attract high-yield domestic and international travellers. In 2025, visitors travelling for business events spent $17.2 billion in Australia during their trip.

Meanwhile, 49% of respondents in the Barometer survey, who experienced the impact of event-driven travel, said it brought more international or long-haul guests than usual, 46% reported

increased bookings during typically low-demand periods, and 40% saw improved revenue per room.

A concert, conference, sports fixture, festival or food event gives travellers a reason to choose a date as well as a destination. The THRIVE 2030 Action Plan calls for new experiences and events that support visitor dispersal across Australia’s regions.

Research by BVA BDRC found that travellers who booked through online platforms were more likely to spend an extra night in coastal and outback areas. The mechanism is fairly intuitive: by making unfamiliar destinations and a wider range of accommodation easier to find and compare, platforms can match regional supply with travellers who might otherwise never encounter it. 

Tourism Economics describes this matching function across Asia Pacific, where online travel platforms also attract a higher share of international bookings than the accommodation market overall. 

When demand is evened out a bit more than the baseline that means less pressure at obvious peak moments, better use of existing capacity, more reliable work patterns for the hospitality workers, and more choice for travellers.

Seasonality in tourism flows will not disappear, even in Australia, with our wide variety of climates, landscapes, and event calendars. The question is how each part of the ecosystem can help moderate fluctuations in demand. That means accommodation providers calibrating their offers, tourism boards and local authorities organising and promoting off-season activities, and local businesses playing a strong role in the visitor proposition. Digital platforms, in turn, will continue to connect travellers with the places and properties that best match what they are looking for.