Reopening to international tourism, ballot for more vouchers, CBD hospitality stimulus, Regional Event Fund applications open & more...
The good news keeps coming today for our industry, with the ballot for Great State Vouchers for accommodation to open on Friday, and a date set for Australia to welcome back international tourists.
From this Friday, the ballot will open to people across the country for 100,000 Great State Accommodation Vouchers. As our biggest release of vouchers to date, open to both loyal local travellers and high-yield interstate visitors, as well as the travel period opening in time for Adelaide’s festival season, this tourism stimulus will make a huge difference to our sector.
It comes after Expressions of Interest were collected from accommodation providers last week, resulting in nearly 250 operators across SA joining round seven; and Expressions of Interest for operators of hosted tours and experiences (round eight) having opened today.
In just two weeks, Australia will re-open to international tourism – Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement after today’s National Cabinet meeting. On 21 February, Australia’s international border restrictions will lift for double-vaccinated travellers.
Pre COVID, international tourists spent more than $1.2 billion in our state. It’s an extremely valuable market and one that is particularly crucial for tour operators, CBD hotels, corporate travel, airlines and cruise – and I know today’s news will be music to the ears of so many in our industry.
Throughout the pandemic, the SATC has been working to keep South Australia top of mind in our key global markets and we can now hit full throttle to entice international tourists who we know stay longer and spend more than domestic travellers.
We’ve also continued working with airlines to ensure that Adelaide routes can be quickly reinstated in line with demand, as we know how important it is to have direct access for tourism.
Following the recent announcement from the Federal Government regarding Working Holiday visas, we’ve also focused activity in this area, in the UK, France and Germany. These have been great markets for us historically and I look forward to sharing more with you soon on this work.
As the Premier has shared in recent press conferences, there will be a further easing of COVID restrictions in our state later this week. Among the restrictions under review, it is expected there will be an easing for hospitality which will come as great relief to businesses as we gear up for the festival season – and now too, to the return of international visitors.
The City of Adelaide together with the State Government has also released details of its dining-out voucher campaign for businesses in the CBD and North Adelaide.
Read on for more information and other updates.
Rodney Harrex
Chief Executive
View the Industry Update – 7 February 2022.