Release date: 21/06/22

The State Government has today committed almost $500,000 for regional tourism marketing to further help the sector return to its pre-COVID record high.

Following a $45 million marketing investment announced for the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) as part of the State Budget earlier this month, an additional $15,000 will be distributed to each of the state’s 11 tourism regions.

The funding will be provided to all Regional Tourism Organisations, to be invested into consumer marketing activities.

The commitment follows the recent release of the updated Regional Visitor Strategy snapshots, which highlight that six of the 11 regions have either met or exceeded their 2025 targets already. Visitor expenditure in regional SA is now $3.6 billion, just $400 million shy of its December 2025 target of $4 billion.

The funding is an increase on the existing baseline $20,000 each region receives annually from the SATC. Regions also received one-off $10,000 funding last year for support during the height of COVID restrictions.

The SATC will now work with each of the regional tourism organisations to work through ongoing planning and roll-out of future marketing opportunities.


Quotes

Attributable to Zoe Bettison

During COVID it has been very clear that regional tourism has been the exception, with more South Australians than ever exploring our state, staying longer and spending more across our regions.

Regional tourism now makes up 60 per cent of South Australia’s total visitor expenditure – up from 44 per cent at the end of 2019.

It is a critical pillar for our visitor economy, so now that borders are open, we need to make sure we give the regions all the assistance we can to showcase themselves more broadly to potential travellers into SA.

This additional funding can help top up their promotional activities in what is already a very competitive market.