05 Mar 2024

Events kicking goals, Summit success, vouchers drive bookings & more…

Tourism in South Australia is kicking goals, as Football Australia together with the State Government has today announced the CommBank Matildas will play at Adelaide Oval for the first time in history – when they host reigning AFC Women’s Asian Cup champions China PR on 31 May. This will be one of the last opportunities for fans to see Australia’s women’s national football team play on home soil prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and will help stimulate visitation to the city at the start of winter.

It was fantastic to be part of the recent South Australian Tourism Summit presented by the Tourism Industry Council SA (TiCSA) and RAA Travel and share an overview of our evolving strategy.

It was also a great chance to connect with industry and see so many operators and tourism stakeholders in the room. It’s an exciting time for tourism in this state and South Australia is well positioned. By continuing to work together and focus our efforts with an eye to the future, we can deliver outstanding results for our industry, our communities and the state more broadly.

We are already seeing a boost to bookings and travel in our Murray River regions thanks to the final round of our River Revival Voucher program. Already thousands of dollars in booking value alone has been pumped into our flood affected regions, with more to come with the booking period open until 27 March. Industry can help encourage bookings by consumers with or without a voucher, by using the assets in our River Revival Toolkit.

The anticipation is building for the second edition of LIV Golf Adelaide, with further tickets on sale and the full artist line-up announced. Award-winning Aussie artist, Tones and I will kick off the artist lineup on Friday night, ahead of FISHER on Saturday night and Flight Facilities coming in swinging on the Sunday night to close the tournament. The exciting on and off course action is driving ticket sales and attracting visitors from across the state, country, and world. Last year, the three-day golf tournament pumped $64.9 million into our state’s economy.

For now, there are only a few sleeps to go until WOMADelaide returns over the long weekend, helping continue to draw crowds of festivalgoers.

Last year, the festival drew more than 21,000 visitors to South Australia, with an average visitor length of stay of 5.26 nights. More than half of total audiences were visitors to Adelaide, spending an average of more than $2,700 - with 73 per cent of tourists dispersing into regions during their stay.

Emma Terry

Chief Executive Officer
South Australian Tourism Commission

Read Industry Update - 5 March 2024