The CBD comes to life at night as offices are empty during the day

Weekday visitors to major city centers are fueling a business resurgence as workers continue to move away from their CBD offices.

Weekday evening visitor peaks are above pre-pandemic levels in all of the nation’s largest cities, with some state capitals hitting record highs for weekend travel.

Sydney’s weeknight peak visitor levels were 16% higher than pre-COVID levels, while weekend visits increased by 1%, according to research by Tourism and Transport Forum’s DSpark.

In Melbourne, weekend visitor numbers are still slightly below pre-pandemic visitor numbers, but weeknight peaks increased by 11%.

In Sydney and Melbourne, this figure came despite the number of CBD workers being only 52% and 56% of pre-COVID levels, respectively.

Main attraction

Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said the arts and entertainment industry was grateful for the increase in visitor numbers.

“There is a nationwide trend that more and more people are wanting to hit the streets on weeknights and weekends to see a show or attend one of the major events taking place across the country. You can see,” she said.

DSpark analyzed mobility data for millions of people in cities and found that the number of CBD workers in all major cities is well below pre-pandemic levels as people continue to work from home. discovered.

Perth had the highest percentage of workers returning to offices, with city employee levels at 71% of pre-COVID figures. This was followed by Adelaide at 68% and Brisbane at 59%.

Osmond said the percentage of people working from home, especially in Sydney and Melbourne, is hurting businesses in the city centre, and people should be encouraged to come to work on weekdays.

-AAP