Preliminary data from property analytics provider CoStar shows Vivid Sydney 2025 helped to deliver Sydney's highest May hotel occupancy rate since 2019.

According to CoStar, occupancy peaked on Saturday, 31 May at 89.1 per cent thanks to the festival.

The first two Saturdays of the festival attracted bumper crowds, with close to 200,000 people per night packing the city to experience the 100 per cent free Vivid Light Walk.

Accommodation Australia CEO James Goodwin said: "Vivid Sydney and major events like it, are crucial for hotels.

"Over the last few years Vivid Sydney has turned what are usually a few quiet winter weekends into a boom period, with occupancy rates in Sydney regularly close to 90 per cent, which is a remarkable achievement."

Learn more here.

CoStar reported the second highest occupancy in May was seen on Saturday, 3 May (88.2 per cent), the night of the match between Melbourne City FC and Sydney FC, which also helped the market’s average daily rate (ADR) reach $305.65 and revenue per available room (RevPAR) reach ($269.55), which were both monthly highs.

It was also the only night Sydney’s ADR surpassed the $300 mark in May.

Business events also drove higher occupancy. ICC Sydney hosted the 16th World Congress on Endometriosis from 21-24 May 2025, which attracted 1100 participants from 60 countries.

The conference pushed occupancy to 84.2 per cent on the first night.

On the final night of the congress, ADR and RevPAR reached $287.04 and $240.59, respectively.

April boost in accommodation and food services

Australian Bureau of Statistics data also shows accommodation and food services business turnover rose 3.8 per cent in April 2025.

ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said: "The 10-day super-break across the Easter and ANZAC Day weekends boosted spending within the Accommodation and food services industry in April, after poor weather affected turnover in March."

Compared to April 2024, accommodation and food services were up 10.6 per cent.

Learn more here.