Sydney: the most expensive travel destination in the Asia-Pacific

By Chris C., February 21 2014
Sydney: the most expensive travel destination in the Asia-Pacific

Sydney is now the most expensive corporate travel destination in the Asia-Pacific region, outranking Tokyo, Beijing and Singapore, while Moscow, New York and Geneva are the world's costliest places for business travellers.

On the other hand, plan your next conference in Hyderabad, Manchester or Dublin and your business travel budget will stretch a long way, with that trio representing the cheapest of the 55 cities surveyed in a report compiled by international corporate services company Hogg Robinson Group.

Monitoring average room rate (ARR) costs for hotels, HRG notes that Sydney placed tenth most expensive in the world with an average room rate of A$315 in 2013, making it even more costly than Washington, London and Dubai.

Duking it out at the top of the global chart are New York with an ARR of A$411 per night in 2013, and Moscow's ARR of A$400 per night.

Closer to home, Hong Kong follows Sydney in eleventh place, Tokyo in fifteenth, and Singapore in sixteenth – although Tokyo saw the largest growth of these three cities with a 12.86% increase on its 2012 ARR to ¥26,792.43 (around A$291).

Overall, rate increases in the hotel industry generally remain slow but steady, with the biggest growth seen in Europe and the Americas.

In spite of flailing exchange rates, HRG suggests the world's ‘supercities’ are forging ahead and leading the world’s hotel prices on an upward spiral – evidenced by growth in cities like Barcelona and Beijing, where global exchange rates aren’t necessarily in their favour.

The full Hogg Robinson Group study can be found here.

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

17 Aug 2012

Total posts 2207

Is this measured solely by hotel rates?

22 Feb 2014

Total posts 1

I went through the full Hogg Robinson Group study and wondered Kuala lumpur is no where in the list! Does Kuala lumpur not an important business destination in Asia-pacific?


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