THE state's tourism centres are celebrating a milestone, with record-breaking accommodation occupancy rates reached earlier this year.
Latest statistics show accommodation occupancy in regional SA in March reached an all-time March high, and the second highest of any month on record.
Adelaide hotels also experienced the best week on record - both pre and post pandemic - with more than 8400 rooms occupied each night of the week from Easter Sunday, while hotel occupancy across the Easter weekend was at nearly 90 per cent.
The strong Easter break, two consecutive long weekends and school holidays boosted hotel occupancy for the entire month of April, making it the third highest month on record for rooms occupied.
This generated a record-breaking average nightly revenue of $1.6 million - topping pre-COVID levels of $1.4m.
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Latest data from the SA Tourism Commission shows regional accommodation occupancy reached 70 percent, the highest for any March on record.
Additionally, March was the second highest of any month recorded for regional SA, behind the 75pc occupancy in April 2021, with 138,500 room nights occupied and a revenue of $21.6m for the month.
"It's no secret South Australia is the best place to visit and stay - so these latest figures are not surprising," Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison said.
"It is, however, great news for our tourism and hospitality operators, and will only improve an already surging business confidence in South Australia."
This comes as the SA Tourism Commission last week announced six of the state's 11 regional tourism centres had exceeded their annual tourism expenditure targets in 2021 - four years ahead of schedule.
Set last year, the state's annual visitor expenditure target for 2025 was $4 billion, but that target was almost realised in 2021, with expenditure just shy on $3.6b.