The major events fund will receive $20.8 million in funding, spread over four years, which will go towards supporting new and existing events held in South Australia. Applications for major event funding are open year-round, with applications assessed on a case by case basis.
Meanwhile, motorsport event, the Adelaide 500, will receive $18 million over four years and the Adelaide Film Festival will receive $2 million over the same time period.
In 2022, 258,200 people attended the Adelaide 500 and the event $51.85 million in economic activity for the state.
“The economic benefit of investing in major events has been well demonstrated over the last few months,” said South Australia’s tourism minister Zoe Bettison.
“Major events are vital for the state, as they generate strong demand and record-breaking bookings for our tourism and hospitality industry.
“Beyond this, major events do a fantastic job of telling South Australia’s story through media and broadcast coverage, bringing communities together creating a wonderful sense of pride and contributing strongly to South Australia’s brand.
“There is a great sense of pride within Adelaide and within the tourism and hospitality industry creating a momentum never seen before in SA,” she said.
The announcement of more major events spending comes shortly after the release of visitor economy figures for Adelaide’s traditional “Mad March” events period, during which Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival and WOMADelaide all take place within the same month.
Visitor spend during March 2023 was the third highest month on record, at $906 million. This is 134 per cent of the spend in March 2019, the last pre-pandemic Mad March.
The Saturday night of the March long weekend during which WOMADelaide is held boasted the second highest ever hotel occupancy in Adelaide.
