The State Government will commence a global recruitment process for the appointment of the next Chief Executive Officer of the South Australian Tourism Commission, to ensure South Australia attracts the best talent available to lead tourism into the future.

Rodney Harrex, who has led the SATC for the past nine years, will conclude his role as CEO later this month. Rodney has worked closely with the South Australian tourism sector, driving record growth in the visitor economy pre pandemic, and then helping recover the sector after the 2019/20 bushfires and the impact of COVID.

Quotes

Attributable to Zoe Bettison

I want to thank Rodney for his years of service to the Government and the South Australian tourism industry. Rodney led the SATC through extremely challenging times, as the state’s tourism industry was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

By initiating the Great State Voucher program and leading a series of initiatives to promote development in the tourism industry, Rodney worked with the sector to recover visitor expenditure ahead of forecasts and at record levels. His work has ensured that the state’s tourism industry is poised to bounce back strongly.

With more than $45 million committed to tourism marketing and $40 million towards major events, our state is well positioned to recover strongly from the pandemic with a tourism industry that provides thousands of jobs to South Australians.

Attributable to Rodney Harrex

I have been privileged to work with some outstanding tourism operators and industry leaders during my time at the SATC, and together we helped our state reach a record high $8.1 billion visitor economy, which created jobs and opportunities for thousands of people across the state.

I want to thank everyone who has travelled this journey with me, particularly through the more recent unchartered challenges of a global pandemic. I was fortunate to have a great team behind me, and I’ll now take some time to refresh – and take a holiday in SA – before moving on to the next opportunity.