South Australian park visitor numbers boom
South Australia’s national parks have experienced a visitor boom with a 77 per cent rise in park entry numbers in December 2020 when compared to the same time in 2019.
An impressive 28,298 people visited South Australia’s regional national parks in December 2020, up from 15,985 the year before.
Our coastal and river parks were the most popular with Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park on the Yorke Peninsula experiencing a 90 per cent rise, Lincoln National Park on the Eyre Peninsula receiving twice as many visitors, and Murray River National Park in the Riverland which had a 200 per cent rise in people camping.
As part of the rise in overall park visitation, there’s also been a significant increase in people taking shorter, weekend visits in the past year to parks within half a day travel outside of Adelaide such as in Mount Remarkable National Park, Deep Creek Conservation Park and Para Wirra Conservation Parks.
With international borders closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic many Australians have been looking to holiday in their own backyard and our national parks - and in particular our regions - have been real beneficiaries.
This has significant flow on benefits for regional communities with more people staying the night, spending money and supporting the local economy.
To book your spot, or find out more on where to explore, visit www.parks.sa.gov.au/booking
