THE Limestone Coast continues to grow its tourism profile, with latest industry figures showing over $350m pours into the region annually on the back of around 642,000 domestic and international visitors.
Equating to a 22pc jump in annual visitation since 2013, the region has also reported an increase of 300,000 nights spent annually in the region, surpassing the two million mark and building on the region’s transformation into a destination.
Data collected in late 2013 showed around 519,000 people visited the region annually, equating to 1.7 million nights spent in the region, generating around $271m for the economy.
Limestone Coast Local Government Association tourism industry development manager Biddie Shearing said the newly-released figures validated the “feeling on the ground”.
“We have had a real sense of buoyancy,” she said.
“Anecdotally we have seen a huge increase in recent years, even looking to earlier this year when Umpherston Sinkhole was probably the busiest I have ever seen it.
“We knew things were going well, so this has just solidified that for us.”
Ms Shearing said the region’s tourism operators had worked closely with the Limestone Coast’s seven councils and the South Australian Tourism Commission to build industry.
“The seven councils in the region have been working in supporting regional tourism efforts for quite a number of years and have been quite adamant about targeting international travellers because they really see some growth coming from those markets,” she said.
“But at the end of the day, we have got over 870 tourism businesses in the region and they are the ones at the coalface delivering our promise – we really need to take our hat to them, they are doing an amazing job every day, seven days a week.
“Then we obviously work really closely with the South Australian Tourism Commission to ensure that we are giving them as much information about what we have to offer so they can then spend their big marketing budgets on promoting that.”
Ms Shearing said the role of social media in tourism was bigger than ever, with the Limestone Coast featured in campaigns across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The South East was part of a commission-backed domestic campaign which featured heavily on social media, encouraging viewers to guess where photographs were taken.
“We are really lucky we did not have to build amazing experiences here – it is just about making sure that we can share that story,” Ms Shearing said.
“I think the ghost mushrooms or Umpherston Sinkhole have been a really good way of showcasing that and getting people to want to visit.
“Then it is just about embracing them when they get here with all of our other amazing experiences.”
Although the region sees the peak of its tourism activity during the summer months, Ms Shearing said promoting what is on offer during winter has been a high priority.
“Part of our pitch is that as a region we have a lot to offer in winter,” Ms Shearing said.
“We have got some amazing red wines, which is synonymous with winter and with that comes an incredible range of bed and breakfasts, fires and cosy activities to do.
“All of our caves are pretty much the same temperature all year round, so once you are inside the cave, it is actually a pretty nice, warm experience.
“Same with our diving – the water is the same temperature pretty much all year round.
“I think the commission has done a really great job of helping us portray that image of ‘come down, rug up and just get into it’.”
