The strength of the Eyre Peninsula tourism industry was underlined last week at a meeting at the Port Lincoln Racing Club, with positives aplenty for the sector.
The meeting at the Port Lincoln Racing Club with Tourism Minister Zoe Bettison during Country Cabinet last Thursday, in collaboration with Tourism Industry Council SA, highlighted innovation in product and the positives of festivals and events.
Ms Bettison said the region had already achieved tourism targets set well before expected.
Eyre Peninsula has already achieved its South Australian Regional Visitor Strategy 2025 target of $397 million, along with 100 per cent of its South Australian Visitor Economy Sector Plan 2030 target of $500m, with the EP having generated a significant $591m in visitor expenditure.
“This is an outstanding result, achieved through strong collaboration between the hard-working tourism and hospitality operators, regional tourism bodies, and the local and state government,” Ms Bettison said.
The state government has provided funding for EP events through the South Australian Tourism Commission’s Regional Event Fund to consolidate more regional visitation, local expenditure and employment opportunities on Eyre Peninsula, with the events including Ceduna Oysterfest, SALT Festival and Colour Tumby.
A major tourist attraction throughout the region is the cruise ships, with a considerable number of visitors to Eyre Peninsula last year, which included 18,000 international visitors, with a total of $18m spent by the visitors.
Along with international visitors, the peninsula also welcomed 103,000 interstate visitors, with a total of $98m spent, with a total of 3404 passengers having participated in cruise shore excursions, injecting additional expenditure for the local community.
Eleven cruise ship visits are expected for the 2024-25 season.
Eyre Peninsula has also been celebrated with the ‘Eyre. The Wild Side’ marketing campaign, with Regional Development Australia Eyre Peninsula winning gold at the South Australian Tourism Awards.
Ms Bettison said there had been discussions about the possibility of Tunarama returning with the Port Lincoln City Council.
“The Port Lincoln council expressed their desire for it to come back and they’re doing that analysis now on what that may look like,” she said.
“I think they’ve got a consultant in to look at what a contemporary event would look like.”
When she looked to the future, Ms Bettison said the diversity of products was always a key focus in terms of tourism.
“What we want to do is have a diversified product and have experiences that everyone benefits from.”
