South Australian Tourism Comission’s high-end ad blitz backfires on Adelaide backpacker market
South Australia’s tourism gurus have gone all out for the top end of the market, but one Adelaide sector says their “decline has been huge”.
The number of backpackers visiting South Australia has plunged as tourism leaders warn the government’s focus on luring cashed-up travellers risks undermining the industry’s foundations.
Backpackers who stay in hostels represented 27 per cent of all arrivals with 100,336 visiting the state in the September 2007 quarter — by September 2024, that proportion had shrunk to just 7 per cent with 31,485 visitors.
The South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) data captures backpackers who stay in a hostel, but misses those who use other accommodation like Airbnb.
Still it reflects a significant contraction from its late-2000s peak.
The sharp decline is against a backdrop of overall tourism numbers steadily rising back to pre-Covid peaks, driven by the state’s 2030 tourism strategy focused on high-yield tourists.
Sunny’s Hostel manager Peter Williams has been at the business since 2010, stating “the decline is huge”.
He said the government’s high-yield tourism strategy — the targeting of high spending travellers — is a “sugar hit” which ignores the foundations of the industry.
“It doesn’t recognise the integral part backpackers and working holiday makers (WHM) play in the economy,” Mr Williams said.
WHM spend on average $32,188 during a typical 9-month stay, with the majority working in the state’s agriculture and hospitality industry, according to a 2021 Flinders University study.
A SATC spokeswoman confirmed high-yield tourists are the state’s focus.
“The SATC’s current primary international market target audience is the High Value Traveller — high spending travellers motivated by what South Australia has to offer,” the spokeswoman said.
Groovy Grapes tour operator James Coull, 26, said this target was “shortsighted”.
James’ father, Dallas Coull, has run Groovy Grapes in the Barossa Valley for over 30 years.
The father and son said backpacker touring has “been completely wiped out” through a pursuit of high-yield tourists — a strategy they claim is “unsustainable”.
James Coull gave the example of a high-yield German client who returned to South Australia recently after “falling in love” with the state during a backpacking trip in the 2000s.
“He returned to our company years later and attended our higher end private winery tour with his family, spending $1400,” he said.
“The Barossa is internationally recognised because 30 years ago we welcomed everyone — whether you were a backpacker or wine connoisseur everyone could access it.”
Ella Bromhead, 22, and Alex Freeman, 22, from England arrived in Adelaide on Tuesday for a two week stay.
They came to see the beaches, bars, festivals and dolphins.
Morgane Scalea, 26, from Switzerland has lived in Adelaide for two months working as an interior painter and in hospitality.
Lucas Hemingway, 23, from Brazil is visiting for one week.
31-year-old Poppy from England has been here for two months and wants to stay forever.
Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison said these travellers were “important to our state”.
“The SATC has been working with trade partners solely dedicated to the backpacker market to make sure South Australia is top of mind for backpackers in key tourism markets, such as Europe, as well as those already in Australia looking for their next place to work and live,” Ms Bettison said.
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Originally published as South Australian Tourism Comission’s high-end ad blitz backfires on Adelaide backpacker market
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