SOME Canberra hotels are reporting a revenue fall of up to 50 per cent since the Federal Labor leadership change as a result of the Federal election uncertainty, research from the Australian Hotels Association ACT Branch reveals. 

ACT Branch general manager Brad Watts said the longer Prime Minister Kevin Rudd prolonged the poll date, the more accommodation hotels and hospitality businesses in Canberra will suffer.

“The AHA ACT is urgently calling on the ACT Government to lobby Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to encourage Mr Rudd to quickly make a decision about the election date,” Mr Watts said.

Mr Watts said while the election delay impact was being felt by business right across Australia, the impact is far more acute in Canberra, where local hospitality businesses rely on Government travel, spending and events.

Earlier this year, a similar AHA ACT survey predicted more than $6 million would be wiped from the sector with Parliament not expected to sit for most of the second half of the year.

“Industry fears this economic downturn figure could now be even higher, due to the continued uncertainty and lack of spending on hospitality in the nation’s capital,” Mr Watts said.

Mr Watts said many hotels heavily rely on income from Parliament sitting weeks, but this revenue will dry up due to the non-sitting of Parliament for the election, which is still yet to be announced.

“As a result and in the current pre-election slowdown, industry is calling on the ACT Government to highlight industry’s plight to the Prime Minister and ask him to name the date to create some certainty in the nation’s capital,” Mr Watts said.