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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-04-30 Daily Xml
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Visitor Economy

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (14:51): My question is to the Minister for Tourism. Can the minister update the house on the outcomes of our March and April events and the South Australian visitor economy?

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:51): I thank the member for her question. Over and over, South Australia is proving itself to be the place to be. Events, adventure, conferences, conventions, food and wine, and, of course, sport and festivals—the eyes of Australia and the world have been on us again these last few months and our businesses are reaping those rewards.

We kicked off this incredible year with the Santos Tour Down Under, the Adelaide International at the Drive, the Olympic qualifying and Laser Masters Sailing—and that was all before March. We are always prepared for the Mad March festival season, one of our favourite times. Whether you are participating by booking tickets to shows or tables in restaurants, whether you're working behind ticket booths, behind bars or behind stage curtains, we are a community that gets involved. I hear time and time again how much it's part of our DNA, these festivals, and Mad March allow us to indulge ourselves as much as possible.

We know more and more people are visiting South Australia for these events, and many of them for the very first time. This is the power of being ambitious. It is the power of going after big, bold, head-turning events. Hotel data shows March 2024 had an all-time high of rooms occupied across metropolitan Adelaide, surpassing the previous record in October 2019. In March 2024, there was an average of 8,687 rooms per night that were occupied—something to celebrate and talk about.

Of course, March delivered our strongest revenue for a month on record—an average nightly revenue of $2.1 million. That is significant and incredibly important to this sector. It overtook the previous high of $1.9 million per night in March of last year. Of course, we have those favourites of the Fringe Festival, WOMAD and the Motorsport Festival. South Australia was also host to eight conferences, totalling a combined 3,600 delegates during the month.

Just as we were dusting ourselves off from the festival season, restaurants and bars were restocking in anticipation for Gather Round, and, of course, LIV Golf. Thursday night of Gather Round was the fourth highest revenue on record for our hotel industry, with $3.3 million; Friday our second highest on record at $3.7 million; and Saturday night our highest ever night of revenue at $3.9 million. Thirty-eight percent of tickets were sold to interstate and overseas visitors—a huge injection into our state.

Can I do a special shout-out to the success of the revived Norwood Food and Wine Festival. There were about 70,000 people that attended that—incredible results for businesses on the Norwood Parade. We also saw incredible results for the Hills with those two games played at Mount Barker. And, of course, I was delighted to go along to Hahndorf to see Gather in the Hills. So something for everyone. Even if you are not watching the football, you are enjoying what the Hills have to offer.

But, of course, it was not the only thing happening in April. We were host to the Australian Athletics Championships, the Adelaide Equestrian Festival and, of course, most recently, the return of LIV Golf Adelaide. We know that it has been a huge success, increased crowds and 42 per cent of tickets sold to interstate or overseas golf fans. And, of course, when we didn't think anything could get better than last year's hole in one, we saw we made global news again with the Aussie team, Ripper GC, led by Cam Smith, taking the team honours through the playoff.

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