Snowy Mountains, New South Wales
The Snowy Mountains is a regional hotspot in Australian tourism, presenting an exciting opportunity for investors.
The Snowy Mountains region is an area of outstanding scenery, with landscapes varying from ski fields and mountain lakes to farmland. A significant proportion of the region lies within the Kosciuszko National Park making it an iconic Australian tourist destination and part of the Australian Alps National Landscape. The region is considered a year-round adventure playground boasting world-class skiing and a range of outdoor adventure sports throughout the year including alpine mountain biking, hiking and fishing.
Perisher Blue, Snowy Mountains, New South Wales
Visitation Trends
Tourism to the Snowy Mountains region reached a record high in 2019 with 1.72 million visitors, the majority of which were domestic overnight visitors (59%). Overnight stays have recorded strong growth over the past five years increasing on average by 7.6% per annum.
Growth in visitation to the Snowy Mountains 2015 to 2019:
- All visitation - 7.8%
- International visitation - 10.1%
- Domestic visitation - 8.3%
- Overnight stays - 7.6%
Airport Infrastructure
Canberra Airport is between 1.5 - 2.5 hours' drive from the Snowy Mountains. The airport is the eighth busiest in Australia with daily flights to Canberra from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Newcastle and Perth. In 2017/18 passenger movements through the Airport recorded growth of 5.3% year-on-year.
Pretty Valley, Perisher, Snowy Mountains, New South Wales
Accommodation Trends
A range of accommodation options can be found in the Snowy Mountains region with the most significant being hotels and holiday homes (not owned). Together these two property types account for 60% of nights spent in the region. According to the Australian Accommodation Monitor, there were 68 accommodation establishments in the Snowy Mountains tourism region at the end of June 2018 with 2,452 rooms and an average property size of 36 rooms. Over the year to June 2018, occupancy levels for a basket of five properties with 322 rooms averaged 44% with a high average rate of $197. Occupancy levels increased 7.7% year-on-year off the back of strong demand growth in line with improving visitation.
Jindabyne - Berridale: HMSA Historical Trading Performance FY13 to FY18
| Year | Occ % | ADR | RevPAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY13 | 38.69% | $213.79 | $82.7 |
| FY14 | 33.4% (-12.2%) | $202.73 (5.2%) | $68.9 (-16.8%) |
| FY15 | 41.70% (22.8%) | $214.06 (5.6%) | $89.3 (29.6%) |
| FY16 | 37.31% (-10.5%) | $230.09 (7.5%) | $85.3 (-3.8%) |
| FY17 | 40.9% (2.7%) | $194.05 (4.2%) | $79.3 (7.0%) |
| FY18 | 44.0% (7.7%) | $197.5 (1.8%) | $86.9 (9.6%) |
| CAGR | 2.6% | -1.6% | 1.0% |
Kosciuszko National Park, Snowy Mountains, New South Wales
Investment Trends
The Snowy Mountains tourism industry is expected to attract continued investment against the backdrop of strong visitation numbers and new and improved visitor infrastructure. Increasingly, day visitors are being encouraged to stay overnight with the right tourism infrastructure and accommodation options in place. The planned upgrade of the Perisher ski resort should also provide a much-needed boost for the region.
