The Marshall Liberal Government is injecting a further $43 million into South Australia’s tourism marketing in a strategic and bold push to grow the state’s $6.8 billion visitor economy and create local jobs, by attracting more international and interstate tourists.
The 2019-20 State Budget, to be handed down on June 18, provides an extra $10 million-a-year over three years from 2020-21 from the Economic and Business Growth Fund for the marketing of SA as a premier tourist destination.
This is in addition to $10 million in 2019-20 included in the 2018-19 Budget and a further $3 million from the Economic and Business Growth Fund spent in 2018-19 for the recent domestic “Rewards Wonder” Winter marketing campaign – across digital media, television, cinema, print and outdoor billboard advertising – to boost visitor numbers during the colder months.
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, David Ridgway, said the massive investment recognised how vital the state’s visitor economy is to driving local jobs growth and the ongoing success of the industry, which supported 18,000 passionate and dedicated operators.
“This $43 million in additional marketing funding is a deliberate and targeted investment by the Marshall Government aimed at building the state’s visitor economy by promoting South Australia to the world,” said Minister Ridgway, who is officially opening the SA Tourism conference today.
“There’s no use having a world-class tourism offering if we don’t tell the world about it.
“The funding will be used by the South Australian Tourism Commission for marketing campaigns with a strong digital focus, targeted primarily at increasing international visitation, but also interstate tourist numbers in the key markets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“Our state’s visitor economy has grown to an impressive $6.8 billion thanks to the dedication, passion and commitment of 18,000 tourism operators across Adelaide and regional South Australia, and we are on track to achieving our $8 billion target by the end of next year.
“International expenditure is currently at a significant $1.1 billion – which is well ahead of where we need to be to meet our goal of $1.2 billion by the end of next year. In fact, expenditure from China continues to show impressive growth – up 13% to $436 million – well within reach of our 2020 target of $450 million.
“When we look at 5-year growth patterns:
- United States – expenditure up 62 per cent to $74 million
- New Zealand – expenditure up 19 per cent to $53 million
- Asia – expenditure up 85 per cent to $697 million
- Germany – expenditure up 18 per cent to $37 million
“But we know there’s still plenty more to be done and we need to build on that momentum as we prepare to release the 2030 Tourism Industry Sector Plan as part of the Government’s ambitious Growth Agenda.”
“We said we wanted to showcase Adelaide and South Australia’s regions to the world, through our world class events and conventions, and that’s exactly what we’ve done and will continue to do.
“Marketing of our city and state to key domestic and international markets is crucial to growing visitor numbers, which supports the growth of our tourism businesses.
“It’s about keeping our restaurants and shops busy, our hotels full and supporting tourism operators right across the state to continue to provide their unique and exceptional experiences for interstate and international visitors.
“The Marshall Government will continue to back our tourism sector to ensure we see continued economic growth and more jobs in tourism and related industries in all parts of South Australia.”
