More Great State Vouchers than ever & further business support

Terrific news for our tourism sector with a significant support and stimulus program announced today in response to Omicron, including two more rounds of the popular Great State Voucher scheme.

The new package includes:

• A total of 160,000 Great State Vouchers for accommodation, tours and experiences – to put this into perspective, that equates to more than half of the total number of vouchers we’ve allocated across the scheme to date
• Additional cash grants for eligible tourism and hospitality businesses – an automatic payment and further Business Hardship Grants
• Extending the Major Events Grant to include events scheduled to be held up to 31 March 2022
• Extending payroll tax deferral for the remainder of 2021-22 for tourism and hospitality, and other businesses impacted by density restrictions
• Support and stimulus for the City of Adelaide including city-wide activations, dining-out vouchers, and free public transport during the festival period.

The Premier confirmed this morning that $9.75 million has been committed to deliver Great State Voucher rounds seven (accommodation) and eight (hosted tours and experiences).

As the largest allocation of vouchers, the two rounds are set to inject $54.7 million into our visitor economy – a massive shot in the arm for tourism businesses across the state.

This is a great outcome for our sector – and something that I know many operators have been calling for.

As in previous rounds, vouchers of $100 will be available for use on accommodation in Adelaide CBD and North Adelaide (postcodes 5000 and 5006); and $50 for accommodation in suburban Adelaide and regional SA. The travel period for round seven will start on 16 February, in an effort to boost tourism in the CBD in time for the opening of the Adelaide Fringe, and it will also include Easter and the April school holidays.

Vouchers of $100 and $200 will be available for hosted tours and experiences across South Australia from early March.

Our first six rounds of vouchers had a substantial and positive economic impact across our sector. Since introducing the scheme in September 2020, a total of $94.5 million has been injected into our visitor economy – a major boost for operators during some very challenging times.

More information, and an Expression of Interest for round seven, will be distributed to accommodation providers on Monday. See the SATC media release here.

For details of the State Government business support package, see treasury.sa.gov.au/Growing-South-Australia/COVID-19.

I look forward to seeing the bookings and benefits this brings to tourism businesses.

Rodney Harrex
Chief Executive

View the Industry Update – 29 January 2022.