New international flight routes are set to supercharge Australia’s hotel sector, potentially creating demand for up to 1.9 million room nights annually according to a new CBRE analysis.
CBRE’s From Runway to Room Nights report highlights that 56 new routes have added 10,500 annual flights into key Australian cities, marking a significant shift in the country’s inbound travel capacity.
The analysis shows Sydney is expected to see the largest uplift in demand, with 13 new flight routes projected to generate around 390,000 additional short-term arrivals and drive an expected 542,000 room nights by the end of 2026.
CBRE’s Head of Hotels Research Ally Gibson said: “Increased capacity from core markets including China, India, Southeast Asia, North America and the Middle East is expected to drive a continued recovery in international arrivals, reinforcing aviation’s role as a critical lever for tourism and hotel sector growth.
“As these new services mature and inbound visitation continues to recover, the uplift in demand is expected to increase occupancy and RevPAR levels across key markets as Australia’s hotel development pipeline enters a sustained period of limited supply, driven by escalating construction costs and productivity constraints.”
CBRE’s analysis takes into account each route by airline, origin, frequency and aircraft type. This was used to estimate new international short-term arrivals and translate them into projected hotel room night demand and occupancy impacts.
By the end of 2026, CBRE estimates that these new flights routes will create demand for around 1.9 million hotel room nights nationally, with the potential to lift Australia’s hotel occupancy by an average of 3.4 per cent.
CBRE Hotel’s Troy Craig said: “The gateway markets of Sydney and Melbourne, underpinned by strong corporate and leisure-based demand and major event schedules, are expected to sustain elevated levels of international arrivals and translate this into continued performance growth.”
Read the full report here.
Destination NSW supports new routes for NSW
Through the Aviation Attraction Fund (AAF) and the Western Sydney International Take-Off Fund (WSITOF), the NSW Government is supporting new and additional flight capacity to help grow the NSW visitor economy.
The last seven months have seen the touch down of new routes into Sydney from Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, Shanghai with Juneyao Airlines and Hong Kong with Hong Kong Airlines.
Later this year, Newcastle Airport’s newly upgraded terminal will see its first international flight from Denpasar land, as well as a new route with QantasLink from Perth.
Air New Zealand was recently announced as the first airline to commit to flying into Western Sydney International Airport (WSI) with support from the WSITOF. Destination NSW and WSI will continue to work together to attract more airlines ahead of the airport opening next year.
The AAF and WSITOF are managed by Destination NSW.
