Record-breaking regions, Aboriginal tourism milestone, award wins & more...
School holidays continue in South Australia and new data in today highlights the boost they bring in intrastate travel.
July saw visitor spend in SA at another record-high, at $865 million in visitor expenditure, it makes it the best July on record and the twelfth consecutive month of record spend. There was a big jump in intrastate travel – up 71 per cent on July 2019 – as more South Australians got out and about during the July school holidays.
It comes as our state gets set to host the nation’s largest multi-sport event, when the Australian Masters Games 2023 kicks off tomorrow. Over eight days more than 7000 participants will compete across 47 sports, with the festival expected to inject more than $12 million into the state’s economy. It will be the eighth time the games have been hosted in SA and it brings great value for the city and regions thanks to an extensive sporting and social schedule and 60 per cent of participants coming from interstate and overseas.
Back on regional SA, we received the year-ending June 2023 results from Tourism Research Australia which showed regional visitor expenditure reached a record-breaking $4.7 billion. The breakdown showed eight of the state’s 11 tourism regions hit an all-time high, and 10 regions surpassed their 2025 tourism targets.
In an important step forward for our state’s Aboriginal Tourism sector, the South Australian Aboriginal Tourism Operators Council (SAATOC) is being established with an interim Board formed last week. The SAATOC aims to drive the development of authentic Aboriginal tourism products and experiences in our state. This work is backed by SATC funding to the Tourism Industry Council of SA (TiCSA) to explore and deliver activities in this key sector.
This week, we saw some of the best wine tourism operators recognised through the 2024 Best of Wine Tourism Awards. The seven winners will go on to compete on the world stage at the Global Best of Wine Tourism Awards later this month, up against wineries from across the 12 Great Wine Capitals of the world, alongside the likes of Bordeaux and Napa Valley. A special congratulations to the winners and to all of the entrants, your work helps make our state’s wine industry world-class and draws visitors from across the globe.
It has been wonderful to see such positive reactions to our new domestic marketing campaign, Travel. Our Way. There’s been great engagement on social media and thousands of eyeballs on the first airing of the TVC during the broadcast of the AFL Grand Final. A reminder to operators and industry stakeholders, an industry toolkit is available to help you leverage the campaign to bring benefits to your businesses and regions.
Our Global Markets & Trade webinar series is underway through until 20 November, providing an opportunity to hear from our in-market global marketing and PR teams, as well as key distribution partners. I would encourage operators who are international-ready to catch up on sessions and register for upcoming webinars via our trade website.
Emma Terry
Chief Executive Officer