Regional tourism is booming – but not everyone is celebrating

A prominent SA region has seen record numbers of tourists this year despite a lack of international and interstate visitors – but not everyone is getting a piece of the tourism pie.

South Australia’s two-speed tourism economy is seeing record windfalls and record refunds.

While some sectors of regional tourism are booming as South Australians jump in their cars to explore their own state rather than heading overseas or even interstate, others continue to struggle.

As regional tourism hits new heights, the Clare Valley has seen tourism expenditure top $134m for the 12 months to March this year — this was $2m more than the region’s 2025 target and was rung up despite the loss of lucrative overseas arrivals and the vital Melbourne and Sydney markets.

The South Australian Tourism Commission says in the year to March 2021 the region recorded 171,000 day trips and 210,000 overnight stays.

As well as a surge of South Australians visiting, they are staying longer with many opting to enjoy a week or more rather than a weekend.

Tourism Research Australia figures for last financial year show expenditure has recovered to $5.8bn, ahead of the SATC’s original impact forecast of $4.9bn and modelling now anticipates a recovery of the visitor economy to $6.3bn by June 2022, as SA tracks back to its 2019 $8.1bn high.

However, some tour operators are missing out on a piece of the pie as many locals simply drive themselves around to sights.

Tourism operator Dallas Coull has struggled with international and interstate border closures. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Dallas Coull, whose family businesses including Taste the Barossa and Taste the McLaren run premium small group tours, has seen business evaporate since international borders shut, cruise ships stopped calling for day trips, then visitors from NSW and Victoria were locked out.

He has refunded more than $190,000 in cancelled bookings this year and says bookings have plummeted.

Mr Coull warns that dozens of other businesses are “on the edge”.

“If our businesses were based in Victoria or New South Wales we would be getting financial assistance,” he said.

“My business and staff are down over 80 per cent and we get next to nothing, yet a business across the border that is 30 per cent down gets a significant weekly payment.

“When we do run tours we are often actually losing money due to the lack of passengers. This is having huge repercussions for the tourism industry both short and long term.

“The government needs to provide direct financial assistance to the small segment of the industry that’s really hurting and needs to be around when things bounce back.”

Businesses’ $23m plan to build on our tourism boom

– Michelle Etheridge

Holidays in South Australia’s own backyard have been a Covid success story – and now tourism businesses are capitalising on the trend, lodging $23m worth of applications for new developments.

A total of 58 tourism projects have been submitted for the state’s regions for 2020-21 under the new planning code, figures provided by Plan SA show.

They include an $800,000 plan to add more accommodation units at the popular Rawnsley Park Station in the Flinders Ranges.

Owners Tony and Julie Smith received approval to install six more two-bedroom units, taking their stable to 35 holiday units, eight high-end eco villas and a homestead.

Mr Smith said the plan was to capitalise on the tourism boom as South Australians – banned from travelling abroad – explored their own state.

“People that would have travelled overseas are now travelling locally and some of them are quite cashed up,” he said. “Definitely the numbers have been very good since May last year, when travel opened up within SA.”

Rawnsley Park Station owners Tony and Julie Smith. Picture: Jacqui Way Photography.

Other projects to get approved include Tatiara Council’s upgrade of Bordertown Caravan Park, featuring new cabins and a playground, and new cabins and accommodation in Venus Bay, Naracoorte and Clare.

Tourism Industry Council SA chief executive Shaun de Bruyn said intrastate tourism had increased from $2bn a year to $2.6bn – “a huge jump”. “There’s great opportunities for investment because there’s great levels of activity in that segment,” he said.

However, Mr de Bruyn emphasised the pandemic was still “incredibly challenging” for tourism businesses, as witnessed in the past few months during extended lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne.

“The bounce-back we’ve seen from the July lockdown has been much softer than we’ve seen with other lockdowns,” he said.

Mr de Bruyn said a drop in intrastate travel in the past two months might have been caused by various factors, such as a lack of confidence while there were high levels of community transmission interstate and local social-distancing restrictions.