A surge in weekend traffic in Australia's five largest cities is bucking the trend of weekday levels, which still remain below pre-pandemic figures.
A Tourism & Transport Forum report shows people are visiting capital city CBDs more in 2024, with weekends considerably outperforming weekdays.
The forum analysed anonymised and aggregated mobility data of the adult population in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, releasing the findings on Sunday.
Perth's visitation levels are up the highest as of April 2024, increasing by 102 per cent, compared to Adelaide which was second with 101 per cent.
Overall weekend CBD visitation was highest in Sydney followed by Melbourne, with Perth and Adelaide having the highest numbers on weekdays.
The report found the number of CBD workers in April was still well below pre-pandemic levels nationally, despite rising in the past year.
"While more CBD workers are back in the office compared with this time last year, some level of working from home has cemented itself as the new normal," the tourism body's CEO Margy Osmond said.
"The pandemic is well and truly behind us and yet hybrid work arrangements look here to stay.
"With fewer workers supporting CBD businesses during the weekdays, the value of visitors has never been more important."
Perth's CBD is the most recovered capital city for total visitation with the highest rates of workers back in offices and weekend visitors well above pre-pandemic levels.
Weekend traffic in Sydney has surged higher than all other big cities and returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The same cannot be said for Melbourne which is the least recovered capital city for workers and total visitation. However, the Victorian capital ranks highly in weekend visitor rates.
Brisbane's CBD has recovered more than Melbourne and Sydney on every measure except for weekend visitors, which remain slightly below pre-COVID levels.
