Dransfield Hotels and Resorts believes increased Australian domestic travel due to closed borders could more than compensate for the dearth of international tourists caused by COVID-19 travel restrictions.

“Estimated domestic replacement in hotels could be considerably higher than the loss of international nights in both the cities in both the cities and regions – by some margin,” the company said.

“Whilst the analysis shows over 100 per cent recovery, the step-up will occur over time and will be affected by seasonality, sofull immediate recovery is not expected as a universal proposition.

“The outlook is however much more positive than initially thought.”