Riverland business owners miffed after “disappointing” tourism voucher rollout

Riverland business owners miffed after “disappointing” tourism voucher rollout
By James Harrison


Holiday vouchers that aimed to bolster tourism in South Australia’s Riverland region have copped criticism from local business owners who claimed they haven’t worked.

The South Australian government spent $3.5m on the ‘River Revival Vouchers’ which were aimed at getting tourists back out to the flood-devastated region.

139,000 registered for the vouchers, but of the 12,000 offered only 4000 were redeemed by winners, drawing criticism of the campaign by SA business owners.

“For us, it was very disappointing and I think as a whole it wasn’t what we expected,” SA business owner Craig Cowing told Channel 9.

“We only got six or so actual registrations.”

Murray river shores reflected in water at sunset, Riverland, rural South Australia

Kym Werner the owner of Riverland canoe and kayak hire operator Canoe Adventures echoed this sentiment. Werner told Travel Weekly that he only had about two people use the vouchers from this rollout and that he attributed the low number to a “hangover from poor media coverage of the floods.”

South Australian opposition leader David Spears said “clearly something went wrong” with the campaign.

“They haven’t been marketed effectively, the strategy hasn’t been very good,” he said.

The South Australian tourism minister Zoe Bettison said they had taken the criticism into consideration, but she stood by the program.

“There will be changes, we have heard, my focus is around the tourism operators and the people of these regions,” she said.

The second round of vouchers will roll out thousands more for the region.

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