November 2011

The unique nature of the Riverland will be leveraged as the key point of difference in the region’s tourism marketing strategy according to Destination Riverland chair Joan Hall.

The Destination Riverland board held its inaugural meeting today at the Berri Resort Hotel.

The board received a briefing from the South Australian Tourism Commission’s regional marketing team on its plan to promote the Riverland and other South Australian regions. The board also committed to developing a new brand image for the Riverland, and the best methods for forging strong links with stakeholders.

Ms Hall said the region’s uniqueness among Australian holiday destinations should not only be leveraged but enhanced.

"The Riverland is unique and one of the keys to driving growth in the region’s tourism industry will be to extend and build upon this uniqueness," she said.

"In the past week we’ve seen the success of examples of unique tourist offerings, such as the Rose Festival, the Food and Wine Festival and the ‘running of the sheep’ in Barmera. These are the sort of events upon which we must build the Riverland’s tourism brand."

Ms Hall said that growing the region’s tourism industry would be a major challenge for the board.

"Destination Riverland aims to develop strong partnerships with the region’s tourism and visitor businesses, and focus our marketing strategy around signature events," she said.

"Recent experience has demonstrated that substantial visitor numbers can be generated by publicity focusing on specific events, with significant flow-on benefits for the region.