Image: Cube pop-up at the Shanghai Wine and Dine Festival in 2019

The South Australian wine sector has benefited from a $2 million marketing campaign aimed at attracting more international visitors to South Australian wine regions.

The ‘Growing Demand for South Australian International Wine Tourism’ campaign was funded by the Australian Government’s $50 million Export and Regional Wine Support Package and the South Australian Government.

Funding of $1 million was provided by the Australian Government and matching funding of $1 million was provided by the SA Government.

Managed by the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA), the campaign saw emotive wine tourism messages created and rolled out in 2019 by the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) in the priority markets of China, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Campaign activity included multiple content types, PR activations as well as cooperative partnership marketing activations.

The activity was largely completed before the major global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt in China, the US and the UK.

The original goal of the campaign was to attract 10,000 more international tourists to South Australia’s wine regions by 2020.

While COVID-19 interrupted international travel this year, early results of the campaign were positive and included:

• A rise in international overnight visitors to South Australian wine regions (from campaign launch to September 2019), from 82,000 to 87,000.
• A rise in the incidence of international visitors having visited a winery while in South Australia (from campaign launch to September 2019), from 34% to 36%.

“While the initial goal of 10,000 additional international tourists will not be reached this year, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, we’re very pleased that the activity assisted in an increase in awareness, visitation and tourism spend in South Australian wine regions, which can continue to be realised beyond the life of this project,” said Smedley.

“Importantly, this activity comprises only one part of the South Australian International Wine Tourism Strategy, and we will continue to invest in the other Priority Action Areas of this strategy.”

The South Australian International Wine Tourism Strategy is a collaboration between the South Australian Wine Industry Association, the South Australian Tourism Commission and Primary Industries and Regions South Australia.

“We have a world-class wine industry in South Australia, and we want to help grow the sector by targeting key international markets such as China, the United States and the United Kingdom,” said Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development David Basham.

“This international marketing campaign has been an outstanding success with South Australia’s wine regions capitalising on the state’s growing reputation for producing a premium wine experience.

“While COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the wine tourism industry, it is important we keep promoting South Australia’s undisputed reputation as the wine capital of Australia so it can bounce back stronger than before.”

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