With Easter, school holidays and the Anzac Day long weekend all coming up within the month, April is set to be a busy time for the state's regions, and tourism operators are gearing up for a welcome influx of visitors.
Many are expecting this year's Easter period to be one of the busiest ever, after holiday plans had to be cancelled last year thanks to the regional travel ban put in place due to COVID-19.
A busy April will continue an already stellar run for regional tourism so far in 2021. While data for March has not yet been compiled, figures from STR Global showed February to be the third consecutive month that SA regional occupancy beat the previous year's result.
SA Tourism Commission chief executive Rodney Harrex said many operators had reported high booking rates for the upcoming four-day break.
"We've heard from operators across the regions that bookings for the Easter long weekend are strong, as locals get out to the coast, the country and the outback, to make the most of the break and the sensational weather that is forecast," Mr Harrex said.
Environment and Water Minister David Speirs said bookings at many of SA's most iconic national parks were at 100 per cent, with only a few vacancies left.
As well as good accommodation occupancy levels across the state, tourist attraction operators and experience providers are also expecting to see increased numbers of visitors in the upcoming weeks.
We've had a few cancellations, which we've advertised on Facebook, and the vacancies have been snapped up within five minutes of posting.
- TANIA DALTON
Richard Bruce, who owns mountain bike shop Over The Edge Sports at Melrose with wife Kerri, said 60-70pc of the rental bikes had been booked for the Easter period, up from less than 20pc for Easter 2020.
"We get a lot of people who book on the day as well, so the good weather is really going to help, it will get people out and about," he said.
"Easter is generally a peak time for us, we do a lot of trade over that timeframe, it's leading into school holidays, which is another really busy time for us. Looking ahead, this whole month is going to be full of tourists coming to town.
"We've sat down with other business operators and talked about how things are going, everyone is pretty pumped, and happy that lots of people have booked (for April) a long way in advance."
Hugh Hamilton Wines chief executive officer Mary Hamilton was looking forward to a "buoyant" Easter. Cellar door bookings for the McLaren Vale winery are at 100pc, with only a few spots still available, for walk-ins only.
"For cellar doors, and certainly ours, public holiday weekends are very important trading times, they are like how Valentine's Day is to florists," she said.
"We see a lot of concentrated visitation at those times, which generally leads to good turnover.
"We are so happy to be open, it will be a great difference from Easter last year - we really noticed that that was absent from the revenue last year."
She expected South Australians to make up 70pc of visitors to the winery across Easter, with the remaining 30pc coming from interstate.
BOOKING FRENZY DELIGHTS DALTONS
Brett and Tania Dalton are excited for their first Easter as managers of Ardrossan Caravan Park, having taken the helm in January.
Since then, the pair say they have been "flat out", with the park booked out almost completely for the entirety of the last three months - and they are expecting the popularity to continue.
They are booked out for Easter, and are at about 75 per cent booking capacity for the upcoming school holiday period.
"We were basically booked out for Easter by the end of January, and with the number of people we've had to knock back because we were full, I think we could booked out all the sites about three times over," Ms Dalton said.
"We've had a few cancellations, which we've advertised on Facebook, and the vacancies have been snapped up within five minutes of posting."
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The Daltons said caravan parks right across the Yorke Peninsula were experiencing similar demand, with inland parks receiving "overflows" from booked out coastal parks.
"There are about 30 parks on the YP, and they're all pretty much chock-a-block for Easter," he said.
Mr Dalton said the mentality of "exploring your own backyard" was alive and well in travellers, and he was hopeful the mindset would become permanent.
"Most weekends, we get three or four people, who it's their first time in their caravan, they've just bought it and it's their first go, they're excited to see what the state has to offer," he said.
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