South Australia�s growing reputation for hosting international sporting, arts and cultural events will be boosted with a multi-million-dollar investment in the State Budget.

Premier Mike Rann and Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith today outlined details of the Rann Government�s plan to attract and promote a year-round calendar of major events in South Australia.

The Rann Government�s extra investment over four years includes:

o $2 million to increase the number of teams participating in the Tour Down Under and attract new events to South Australia, with a focus on the winter period. The 2006 Tour attracted more than 15,330 visitors to South Australia, up from 11,670, and injected $16.25m into the State�s economy.

o $800,000 to promote South Australian arts and sports events in the summer period.

o $2.5 million over the next five years for the Rugby Sevens World Series, Adelaide�s first two-day rugby festival to be held in April 2007. The event is expected to generate up to $6m in economic benefit to the State.

o $900,000 towards a Food Symposium and a Food and Wine Summit to strengthen South Australia�s position as Australia�s premier food and wine State. The events will be held in alternate years with a particular focus on increasing sales of SA produce.

o $2 million for the annual two-week Adelaide International Guitar Festival, to be held at the Adelaide Festival Centre from 2007 and expected to attract a world-wide audience. This new annual event will feature performances by local, national and international artists across a variety of genres including rock n roll, classical, Spanish, blues, roots and jazz and experimental.

o $8 million over the next three years to upgrade the Dunstan Playhouse. It�s 30 years since South Australia�s flagship arts venue was built, and this investment will see the Dunstan Playhouse upgraded, along with the public foyers, the Tuttu Ku Restaurant and Artspace.

o $2 million to make the Fringe Festival an annual event. This is a fantastic platform for our emerging artists, and making it an annual event will attract new audiences and increase tourism.

o $500,000 to provide free public events at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts. . This will help deliver more free performances like The Dancing Sky, which attracted 150,000 people to Elder Park this year to experience outdoor theatre at it�s best.

o $200,000 to continue the Adelaide Festival of Ideas as a biennial event. This event continues to grow, attracting some of the best national and international speakers.

o A one-off injection of $200,000 towards the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust winter program. This will help enliven Adelaide�s winter and spring cultural tourism calendar with new events at our flagship arts centre.

Premier Rann says South Australia is riding high on the back of the more direct international airline flights and the presence in June of hundreds of holiday experts for the Australian Tourism Exchange.

�Those initiatives have been a direct result of the State Government�s investment and we want to leverage the benefits by getting people to experience our State�s �brilliant blend�.

�In addition to New Zealand, we will continue to target the United Kingdom � our number one source market for international visitors � and the emerging and enormous Indian market.�

Dr Lomax-Smith says tourists now have more ways to reach South Australia, with 24 international flights operating per week to Adelaide, up from 14 weekly flights in 2003.

�This budget boost will help to make us even more competitive as a destination for holidays and events, helping to fill our hotels, restaurants and shops and create jobs for South Australians.

�The most recent tourism figures show a 6% increase in international visitors to South Australia to June 2006 compared to the previous 12 months.

�South Australia�s performance outstripped the national average of a 1% increase and comes on the back of Adelaide hotels recording their highest ever occupancy levels at the start of the year.�

For further media enquiries contact: Leah Manuel 0422 006 647