Cruise this summer, intrastate continues record-high, & more...

It’s been a bumper school holiday period, with South Australians continuing to look and book local.

An estimated $200 million will be pumped into our visitor economy these school holidays, with $50 million of that spent over the October long weekend.  

I’ve been out in region over the past month, meeting with operators and learning what’s happening first-hand. From Fowlers Bay in the Eyre Peninsula where I saw a busload of visitors heading on a tour with EP Cruises, to Renmark and Berri in the Riverland which has seen a roaring trade, it’s reassuring that there are plenty of South Australians still embracing regional getaways.

I’m headed to the Clare Valley next up – a region which has already smashed its 2025 target, recording $134 million in visitor expenditure in the 12 months to March, two million dollars more than what it set out to achieve in four years’ time.

I know there are pockets of the industry that this local boom doesn’t extend to – CBD hotels and tour operators for example, which are more heavily impacted by the downturn in interstate visitation.

Through support schemes like Great State Voucher in market right now and the city-focused #GoToTown campaign, we’re doing everything we can to drive people and dollars to these businesses.

As part of #GoToTown, our FOMO Fridays initiative has aimed to not just generate business on the four Fridays in the series, we’re working to change behaviour – enticing visitors and CBD workers back into the city.

Read on for further updates for our industry.

Rodney Harrex
Chief Executive

Read our Industry Update – 7 October 2021 here.