A Brief History of Sydney

Like the history of the United States, the history of Australia is fairly short, as it was unknown to western nations until the seventeenth century. Due to a scarcity of written records, it is hard to determine how long aboriginal peoples had been living in the Sydney area, but current estimates range from 7,000 to 20,000 years. However, when James Cook charted the Australian coastline in the 1770, the history of Australia in general and Sydney in particular greatly accelerated.

Globe of planet Earth with Australia shown.

Duet to the American revolution, Great Britain began to use Australia as a prison colony for convicts. On January 26th, 1788, the settlement of Sydney was founded and named in honor of Thomas Townshend, the Baron Sydney who eventually became the British Secretary of State. By 1842, Sydney was firmly established as the leading city of the new continent, and the discovery of gold in 1852 caused a massive influx of residents in a Gold Rush similar to the famous California Gold Rush in America. In 1861 the population of Sydney was 56,000, in 1881 it was 221,000, and by 1901 it was an astounding 481,000.

Sydney has become increasingly involved in world affairs, particular during World War II. Australia entered the war on the side of the Allies in 1939 and fought in campaigns in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. When Japanese submarines entered Sydney harbor and attacked the HMAS Kuttabul, killing several Australian and British citizens, the focus of the Australian military shifted almost exclusively to the Pacific. Almost a million Australians fought in the war, with over 50,000 casualties.

Today, Sydney is known as one of the premiere tourist destinations in the world. In 1973, the world-famous Sydney Opera House opened its doors, and it has subsequently become renowned for its stellar acoustics and revolutionary architectural design. In 2000, Sydney hosted the Olympic Games, cementing itself as a world class city of the new millennium.

GFC not the only reason for a drop in Sydney Tourism

In the two years since the GFC (Global Financial Crisis), tourism to Sydney has dropped by 3.5 per cent. Sydney is a long way from the rest of the world and with less money in people’s pockets, they seem to be reluctant to spend it coming to Sydney. Domestic tourism has also fallen. With the rise of the Aussie dollar, Australians can now enjoy more bang for their buck by traveling overseas. The United States gets you a real value holiday. Australians are even using their holidays to go to the annual Macy’s sale to save even more. And there’s no doubt Sydney is expensive, a cup of coffee will usually set you back $3.50.

View of Sydney Harbour Bridge from the north pylon.

Sydney ranks 24th on the Worlds ‘cost of living scale,’ higher than Barcelona, Dublin or even New York. It’s cheaper to go to the movies in London or New York than it is in Sydney and a liter of milk costs twice as much in Sydney than it does in New York.

So where is everyone going? The number one tourist destination is France followed by America, sliding up the ladder is Malaysia which has reached the top ten. Believe it or not, another region bucking the trend is the Middle East, so even though images from our television might be telling us one thing, tourism figures are telling us another. The strong Aussie dollar and the weak US dollar has everyone going. And not just to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but Qatar with billions of dollars spent on new hotels and airport facilities. Even Oman in getting in on the action.

So if perceptions of violence are being ignored in the Middle East try typing ‘tourist bashed’ in Google and the first things to pop up are reports of violence against tourists in Sydney. The good news? At least there’s an app. Tourism Australia has released a free iPhone app to coincide with the forthcoming Ashes series this summer. It might be the beginning of a new trend.

Serviced Apartments in Sydney – Do They Have Staying Power?

What if you could take all the benefits of staying over in a luxurious hotel room and throw them into a decked out apartment at the locale of your choice, far away from busy front-desk lobbies, overcrowded elevators and parking lots? What if I told you that you wouldn’t have to sacrifice room service, the snack bar and free Wi-Fi? Well you’d have what we call a serviced apartment my friends, and it may just be the thing to eventually give the Sheratons, Hyatts and Hiltons of the area a run for their money.

Serviced apartments appeal to longer-term stays and those travelling with families, who want more of the comforts of home than a standard hotel room will provide, (like a kitchenette, a living area, private bedrooms and complimentary washer and dryer) for about the same cost as one. Guests in a serviced apartment still won’t have to make their own bed or wash their own towels, but they’ll feel less like a visitor in town and more like a host when their own guests come a-calling.

Furnished apartment living room on Market St, Sydney CBD.

As the needs of out-of-towners or those who are transitioning to town continue to become more diverse, serviced apartments continue to grow in popularity. Those looking to book a serviced apartment now have their choice of one, two or three bedrooms, penthouse floor suites, pristine beach side views and more. Statistics show that more and more of these facilities are being created and that their numbers have been steadily increasing for about the last 10 years. The rates, accommodations and amenities of serviced apartments continue to become more competitive with local name hotels as time passes.

So are Sydney hotels worried about serviced apartments? Well, while the Hiltons and the Waldorfs of the world are hardly crying broke, the increasing popularity of serviced apartments suggests that mainstream hotels will certainly have to pay closer attention to customers desiring to make this newer alternative their choice for out-of-town accommodations.

For more information about serviced apartments in Sydney and surrounding areas, visit Furnished Properties to search by various criteria for the serviced apartment that will fit your special needs.