Regional tourism aims for $4b as it rebounds from fires, pandemic
Regional tourism is aiming for a $4 billion prize despite the setbacks of bushfires and the pandemic, with a series of workshops to outline a five year road map to success.
SA News
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Regional tourism has bounced back from its bushfires and pandemic slump as South Australians explore their own state, and now operators are setting their sights on expanding the industry.
SA Tourism Commission workshops starting today around the state will outline how SA will grow annual regional visitor expenditure to $4bn by 2025.
Annual regional tourism expenditure hit $3.55bn last December, a year ahead of target, but the sector has since had to grapple with the effects of bushfires, no international visitors and few interstate holiday-makers.
Despite this, regional visitor occupancy rebounded with the help of the SATC’s Welcome Back campaign to reach 49 per cent occupancy in July, compared to 50 per cent in July 2019.
SATC chief executive Rodney Harrex said tourism directly employed 40,500 people across the state and would be crucial in the economic recovery from the pandemic.
“As we continue to face the challenges of COVID-19, we’ve already seen how vitally important intrastate tourism is, and how regions are already playing their part in helping to kickstart the economy,” he said. “While there’s a long road ahead, the Regional Visitor Strategy is critical to bring our regions and our industry together to plan the path forward, and to meet the State Tourism Plan target of $4bn generated from within our regions by 2025.”
The 15 workshops will help develop the 2025 South Australian Regional Visitor Strategy as a road map to how SA will grow regional visitor expenditure.
The consultation program with key tourism representatives to discuss the priorities for each region over the next five years was planned for April but the pandemic put it on hold.
Helen Edwards, who is chairwoman of the strategy’s steering committee, said tourism was needed more than ever to drive regional development.
“Over the last decade, regional tourism in South Australia has seen fast-paced change in consumer expectations, in our tourism markets, in marketing and technology, and in the structure of our regional tourism organisations,” she said.
“While none of this change is as significant as what we’ve seen from COVID-19 and the summer bushfires, regional tourism has shown it is resilient and it can adapt.”
Julie Smith, owner and operator of Rawnsley Park Station at Wilpena Pound and Barossa Shiraz Estate who is attending the workshops, said travel restrictions had put a firm focus on regional tourism.
“Since intrastate travel opened we have had strong visitation across all areas at Rawnsley Park,” she said.
“The Barossa has been a bit slower to take off, but is starting to improve. The (workshops) are a good opportunity to reset the game plan.”
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