Festival season underway | Flood recovery progress | Record-breaking regions
Festival season has arrived in our state, with the Adelaide Fringe enticing 330,000 people over the opening weekend. Event organisers are reporting solid ticket sales as they aim to sell one million tickets for the first time, and our hotel forward booking data showed occupancy over the weekend was well up on last year.
I spent two days last week on Yorke Peninsula, attending my first Country Cabinet with Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison as well as CEOs from other government agencies. The visit was a terrific opportunity to meet with operators, hear what’s important to them and see the great things happening across the region.
I also joined a series of tourism roundtables while in Yorke Peninsula, in Wallaroo, Yorketown and Maitland. While recognising that region is hitting record highs, it’s also timely for us to reflect on our flood impacted river communities who have had a tough few months.
It’s pleasing to advise that we are well and truly in recovery mode for the Murray River, with the emergency declaration covering river regions no longer in place. We have held two meetings of our Murray River Tourism Recovery Working Group, and I thank those industry and business representatives who are providing valuable insights into what is needed to kickstart tourism in both regions.
Later this week we are holding information sessions in Berri, Renmark and Murray Bridge to brief operators on our upcoming voucher program and marketing campaign. So far, over 110 operators have registered for these sessions which is great to see.
We understand the SATC activity must reflect what the tourism sector needs – and we deliver a package that is equitable, makes a difference and drives demand. I know the team is working hard to put the finishing touches to the campaign over coming days.
I had my first taste of the Fringe over the weekend – I've heard a great deal about ‘Mad March’ and having seen the number of people out spending and supporting our visitor economy, I can now appreciate why.
Emma Terry
Chief Executive Officer