South Australian Labor Leader Peter Malinauskas has unveiled his plan to revive COVID-19-impacted tourism in the state with investments to lure new events and tourists to South Australia (SA) if elected Premier this month.
Malinauskas has pledged $40 million over four years to bring new events that would attract interstate and international visitors to the state.
Among the events, Labor would target are The Rugby Championship (TRC), with matches featuring Australia vs South Africa, New Zealand, or Argentina; international football (soccer) fixtures such as Socceroo World Cup qualifiers, English Premier League, and other top tier European club matches; 2027 Rugby World Cup finals matches; Broadway blockbusters exclusive to Adelaide; blockbuster exhibitions; and major festivals.
According to Malinauskas, prior to the pandemic, the tourism industry in SA directly supported 40 thousand jobs and was worth over $8 billion to the SA economy annually.
He said that SA tourism has been hit hard by the pandemic and needs a kickstart to bring it back to life.
“Labor will support this important industry with this significant package to lure more events and to better market our state,” he said.
“This will set us up to better compete with other states as we all start to book holidays.”
As well as bringing in new events, Labor would also reinstate some old ones, namely the iconic Adelaide 500, an annual racing event for Supercars which was held on the streets of Adelaide’s east end from 1999 to 2020, as well as the Adelaide Motorsport Festival, which ceased operating in 2019 after state government sponsorship funds were cut.
In 2019, the Adelaide 500 injected $45.9 million into South Australia’s economy, attracted 15,200 interstate and overseas visitors and supported 435 full-time jobs.
“South Australia has a proud history of car manufacturing, car racing and car culture, attracting more visitors to South Australia, creating more jobs, and growing our State’s economy,” Labor’s policy page reads.
A Labor government would also allocate $1.6 million over four years to provide capability development via workshops and one-to-one business coaching, along with a program to encourage young people to consider a career in tourism.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Party’s approach to reviving the tourism industry is focused on nature-based tourism in the state’s regions to attract tourists and create local jobs.
As part of the fund, businesses that support and encourage visitors to travel to regional areas and enjoy SA’s parks, rangelands, reservoirs, waterways and marine environments can apply for grants from $20,000 to $1 million to support their projects.
Marshall said that in coming out of the COVID-19 crisis, the SA Government had given a leg up to small businesses, particularly in the tourism sector, so that they could create more jobs.
“A leg up, not a handout, a leg up and making sure we can do everything we can to support the great regional tourism opportunities across our state,” Marshall said.
When deciding on which businesses will receive grants, among factors being considered is how many short and long-term jobs will be created and whether the businesses can co-contribute to the project.
“So, we’re really working with the owners, the proprietors, to re-invest in their business, to create that incentive to re-invest in their business, but mainly to improve the standard right across regional South Australia,” Marshall said.
A further $12 million would be invested in the state’s reservoirs to upgrade boardwalks, provide more opportunities to fish and kayak, and improve visitor facilities.
A major part of Marshall’s plan is to convert a disused quarry into a lake recreation park.
“We know we’ve got the best regions in the world,” Marshall said on Feb. 23.
“We want to share those with people interstate and overseas.”
