The Adelaide Fringe released its 2023 impact report this week, cementing its status as one of the world’s leading arts festivals, generating a whopping $105.5 million in expenditure for the state of South Australia – a 40% increase on 2022.
The Adelaide Fringe made headlines and history at 10pm on the closing night claiming the title of the first Australian festival to ever sell one million tickets.
The South Australian Business Chamber CEO Andrew Kay says there is no doubt the Adelaide Fringe has a tremendous impact on South Australia, both financially and reputationally.
“We were proud to support the Adelaide Fringe again in 2023 and applaud the incredible efforts by the team, artists, sponsors, and everyone involved to achieve two outstanding milestones.
“We know when people travel to Adelaide for events like the Fringe, they do much more than just see a show. Inbound tourists visit our incredible landmarks, indulge in culinary experiences in the regions, enjoy a night out in the city, and most importantly, return home and share their experiences with their family and friends.
“It goes without saying, the Adelaide Fringe puts the festival, in Festival State for South Australia and we look forward to seeing what kind of records they can break again in 2024”, said Mr Kay.
Interstate and international tourism was a massive contributor to the economic impact of the Adelaide Fringe, with new money to the state totalling $84.3 million, a 68% increase from the previous year’s figure.
Adelaide Fringe Director and CEO Heather Croall said, “A big part of our strategy in making Fringe as successful as possible and supporting artists and venues as best we could with new audiences, was to focus on increasing visitors from interstate and overseas, which has clearly paid off with more tourists and more tourism dollars to the state than ever before as a result of Fringe”
“Hitting the one million ticket milestone couldn’t have happened without the national awareness of Adelaide Fringe to drive new visitors to South Australia to experience our great festival and state”, said Heather.
45,000 visitors descended on South Australia and Adelaide to attend Adelaide Fringe with the spend per tourist significantly increasing on the previous year from $2,258 to $3,420 (a 51% increase on 2022).
The average spend per tourist has increased from $607 in 2017 to $3420 in 2023; this is attributed to the average length of stay of Fringe visitors increasing year on year and their increased engagement with local businesses such as hotels and restaurants.
Additional economic and tourism outcomes of this year’s Adelaide Fringe include 230,000 visitor bed nights with local, interstate, and international visitors and artists utilising South Australian accommodation.
In 2023 Fringe generated almost 10,000 direct and indirect jobs as a result of the festival, a 56% increase on the previous year.
