Regional tourism to help with economy recovery

SA Tourism Commission chief executive Rodney Harrex said since first opening up again in June - up until the latest lockdown - regional tourism in SA had been tracking well, and in some areas even returned to pre-COVID levels.

"This is a sector that rebuilds quite quickly - we had that circuit breaker and we're already starting to see inquiries," he said.

He said the major audience for regional SA was domestic, with international just 14 per cent of visitors in an average year.

As borders re-opened, he said there was room for even more growth, with Victorian web traffic on the SATC site up considerably.

Mr Harrex said the $2-million second round of Great State Vouchers, to be released on January 5, was a sign of the success of round one, which was oversubscribed within 90 minutes.

"With the first round, we saw an increase of $10m in expenditure," he said.

"One hotelier said they had hired 10 new people immediately off the back of that."

One region is hoping to utilise this tourism push to also help agricultural businesses build resilience.

A program through the Regional Development Australia Murraylands & Riverland aims to help agribusinesses consider including a tourism offering.

RDAMR chief executive Ben Fee said tourism and agriculture were each significant in the local economy, but had both taken a hit in recent years for different reasons.

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"We saw the opportunity to help support irrigation businesses at a time of rising water prices and drought to bolster both," he said.

Using funds from the Murray-Darling Basin economic development program, the RDAMR is hosting webinars and one-on-one business coaching with experts in food and agritourism.

Mr Fee said while there was an obvious synergy with cellar doors, other options were farm experiences or even more "left field ideas".

The first webinar on food tourism took place in November, with the second, on agritourism, postponed until January.

Ecotourism Australia chief executive Rod Hillman told a recent SA Trade and Investment webinar there was an increasing trend for nature or wellbeing tourism.

He said wellbeing tourism was also about benefiting the region visited, with one example Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island, where visitor funds helped support conservation.

He said there had been more applications for ecotourism in 2020 than in previous years.

But while proximity to Adelaide was a benefit to many regions, particularly as flights resumed, those further away might need to combine for promotions to attract guests.

BOOKINGS from Victorian visitors to South East tourism providers were already coming through as early as Monday night, as people prepared for the SA/Vic border to reopen on Tuesday.

Limestone Coast Local Government Association destination development manager Biddie Shearing said there were positive signals for recovery in the region as a major tourism audience returned.

"Initially it will be a lot of family and friends and relatives crossing the border but as confidence grows, we will see more domestic travel," she said. "I know some operators were receiving bookings as of (Monday) night."

Ms Shearing said there had needed to be some confidence for businesses to start scaling back up, including buying stock and hiring staff, but there was a sense of optimism among businesses and investors.

She said they had been missing about one-third of their visitor economy - "so that's $135 million that hasn't been flowing through".

"It's not just bums in beds, it's the ripple effect," she said.

Ms Shearing said the impact of a revived tourism sector would also mean work and money for cleaners and linen services, money spent on petrol, cafes, supermarkets and retail, with the value normally worth $376m to the region.

She said one change in the past eight months had been the increased digital shift, as customers increasingly looked online when making plans.

"A really important part of our 'hibernation' has been helping businesses and industry - which are a lot of small family-owned businesses - get their skills up to be visible," she said.

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