SA school holiday travel hot spots booked out amid tourist surge

Some of South Australia’s favourite school holiday spots may be hard to get into this year as tourist traders tell why they’re about to be swamped.

Regional tourism operators are bracing for an Easter and school holiday resurrection in tourism numbers that will exceed even last year’s $70m economic injection.

South Australian Tourism Commission chief executive Rodney Harrex said some of the regions were already booked out for April as the state emerged from Covid-19 fears.

“We know last Easter, more than $70m was spent in SA over the four days and that was on the back of a very different Easter in 2020 when South Australians were urged to stay at home,’’ Mr Harrex said.

Throughout the pandemic, regions had performed strongly thanks to “huge numbers” of South Australians enjoying a local holiday.

“On the back of seven consecutive months of record-breaking regional tourism rates last year, I’m hearing from operators in Kangaroo Island, Flinders Ranges and Outback and the Adelaide Hills that there’s a been a noticeable increase in interstate visitors, on top of the continued support from intrastate,” he said.

The fact that Easter falls in the school holidays this year is also bolstering demand, as was the state government’s Great State Voucher program.

The Flinders Ranges and Outback region is doing well because of the Outback flower season.

Sam Abyanakis wakeboards on the Murray at Whitesands. Picture: Dean Martin

Adelaide Hills Tourism chairman Martin Radcliffe said the industry had been working hard to give intrastate visitors more reason for visiting the Hills, and it was paying off. “Our forward bookings are very strong, and people have seen that the market was going to turn so have been developing offerings,’’ he said.

Barossa Australia manager Taryn Wills said the region’s wine harvest season was nearly completed and Easter was always a popular time of year for family fun.

“There has been a huge increase in visits even in the last week,’’ she said. “The information centre in terms of foot traffic and inquiries is also back to pre-Covid levels.”

Regional Development Australia Eyre Peninsula manager Annabelle Hender said bookings were strong and mild temperatures made it the perfect time for visitors to enjoy the region’s water, marine parks and marine life such as cuttlefish, seals and later this month whale visitors.

Destination Riverland manager Ben Patten said there had been a lull during the state election but visitation was “roaring back”.

Kangaroo Island Tourism Alliance manager Megan Harvie said the region was popular for nature-based activities and was easier to isolate for those in fear of Covid but isolation rules were making staffing levels difficult to maintain.

Originally published as SA school holiday travel hot spots booked out amid tourist surge