Feature
Issue No. 46 - April/May 2009
Luxury tourism niche for investors
Tourism entrepreneurs ready to develop ‘lodge’ type accommodation and activity-based tourism have lucrative opportunities on offer in a strongly performing sector, according to SA Tourism Commission research.
SATC chief Andrew McEvoy points to a recent Access Economics study which calculates our healthy tourism sector attracts $4.3 billion in spending to SA each year and employs more than 50,000 people directly and indirectly.
Air links are improving, with Tiger Airways’ committing to Adelaide as its second Australian base and increasing flights from 12 per week to 44.
Andrew believes the global downturn is good news for internal tourism and the SATC is pledging its support for innovative developers. Early winners will be regional developments in lodge accommodation in wine country, and CBD operations linked to festivals.
“SATC is looking for entrepreneurs with vision to develop signature, sustainable tourism developments, in keeping with the natural environment, which build on the State’s key strengths,” Andrew says.
“SA boasts some of the country’s best tourism and leisure experiences, there are still plenty of opportunities for private investors.
“The raw ingredients for world-class tourism developments are already here: fantastic food and wine, accessible coastal and nature experiences and an enviable lifestyle.”
Analysis shows SA is best placed to be a low-volume, high-yield destination, offering “a high quality experience people are willing to pay well for”.
On the touring continuum from passive to active experiences, SA offers plenty of opportunity for tourists to sit down and taste wine but not enough activitybased opportunities which give them a structured approach to doing it, such as Barossa Valley ‘trike’ motorcycle tours and Penfolds’ ‘make your own blend’ program which let visitors get stuck in more actively. Building a reputation for fun activity is vital to internat...
