Sydney now tourists' flavour of the year

German-born Sydney resident Ms Karin Klupiec has played host to 30 international visitors - from Europe, Britain, Taipei, New Zealand and the United States - over the past 12 months.

Most of the passengers on board the Captain Cook cruise boat were from overseas. The Sakus sisters - Indre 24, and Kristina, 25 - from Toronto, Canada, were in the country for the first time.

"Right now it's minus 25C in Canada and it's snowing - our families at home are shovelling the driveways - while on New Year's Day we spent it on Bondi Beach," Indre said.

The Australian Tourist Commission forecast the number of international visitors will increase by 8.3 per cent in 2001 compared with 2000, bringing the number to 5.3 million.

The commission bases its figures on the effect of the Olympics, a fast economic recovery in Asia, positive economic growth in Europe and North America, and recent falls in the Australian dollar. The word from local tourist operators and hotels is that Sydney is increasingly being seen as the place for foreign tourists to be on New Year's Eve.

The managing director of the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau, Mr Jon Hutchison, said the number of international visitors was about 10 per cent above the same time last year.

"Sydney is seen as the place to gather for the new year's period, for Asian people particularly, and it [has] had such a spotlight in the US - we've seen a lot of Americans around," he said.

The chief executive of Tourism NSW, Mr Tony Thirlwell, agreed with the 10 per cent estimate.

"Sydney's always had a good profile, the Games enhanced that," Mr Thirlwell said. "We're having the Olympic impact already."

The number of visitors to Taronga Zoo also was up by 10 per cent in December compared with the same time 12 months earlier - 30 per cent of them international - while the managing director of BridgeClimb, Mr Todd Coates, said that before the Games, international climbers made up 35 per cent, while post-Olympics they'd accounted for more than 50 per cent. Most were from Europe and North America. "They get off the plane at 6am and climb the bridge at 8am," he said.

The Harbour Bridge had 280,000 climbers in 2000 compared with 150,000 in 1999.

Occupancy rates in Sydney's top hotels are also up significantly from 12 months ago.

At the Park Hyatt it was 91.6 per cent, up from 81.6 per cent last year, with 80 per cent of them international guests.

"I think definitely we're being seen as a popular destination for [New Year's Eve]," a spokeswoman said.

Rates at the Regent Hotel are up 10 per cent so far, and the ANA hotel said its occupancy rate was now 70 per cent, up from 60 per cent a year ago. "It's come really from the international market, from independent travellers from the UK, Europe and the US," the director of marketing, Mr Winston Reinboth, said.

Occupancy rates at the Hotel Inter-continental are up by between 15 and 20 per cent, while at the Novotel the rate hasn't changed from the 50 per cent it was in January last year.

Source: SMH