{"id":632781,"date":"2026-04-26T21:40:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T21:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632781\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T21:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T21:40:24","slug":"fuel-costs-and-supply-worries-make-for-slow-easter-in-regional-south-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632781\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel costs and supply worries make for ‘slow’ Easter in regional South Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

School holidays in South Australia have revealed a split in how fuel prices have hit regional tourism, with Easter failing to provide a boost to local economies.<\/p>\n

At Port Lincoln, on the state’s Eyre Peninsula, tourist operators have reported lower numbers as travellers decline to make the eight-hour journey from Adelaide.<\/p>\n

Port Lincoln Caravan Park manager Rebecca Stusser said this year’s Easter period was one of the slowest she has had.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rebecca Stusser says her caravan park will now enter its quiet period without an Easter boost preceding it.\u00a0 (ABC Eyre Peninsula: Jodie Hamilton)<\/p>\n

“Usually we’re packed, but we even had some spare cabins. It’s been really, really quiet.”<\/p>\n

She said many visitors had mentioned the cost of fuel, but some were more concerned about fuel supply.<\/p>\n

“The [visitors] we’ve been getting are ones that are hanging around until prices go down to head back to WA,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The coastal city of Port Lincoln is about an eight-hour drive west from Adelaide.\u00a0 (ABC News: Carl Saville)<\/p>\n

“We usually fill up with people from Adelaide, but we’ve been pretty empty.<\/p>\n

“I guess this is when we normally quieten down, which is a struggle as it is, but we don’t have the grey nomads that can’t afford to travel, which is what keeps us going in the quiet period.”<\/p>\n

Fuel costs and supply concerns<\/p>\n

Closer to Adelaide in the Yorke Peninsula town of Wallaroo, residents also say tourism numbers have been down, although not as bad as initially feared.<\/p>\n

Wallaroo Holiday Park staff member Matt Bozoky said good weather was helping attract some people to the area.<\/p>\n

“Fishing is starting to fire up, but it’s a lot quieter this year compared to last and previous years,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Matt Bozoky says interstate visitors have dropped off significantly.\u00a0 (ABC North and West SA: Declan Durrant)<\/p>\n

“There have been some cancellations due to the fuel; obviously, the price is the main priority people are worrying about.<\/p>\n

“Also, there’s been a few asking about supply issues out here.”<\/p>\n

Mr Bozoky said the park’s visitation was down about 25 to 30 per cent, with interstate travellers particularly missing from the region.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just the park bookings \u2026 the whole town is feeling the pinch,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’re still getting a lot of families come through for their annual trips.<\/p>\n

“A lot of them are more local, some people have come through and said they’re from Adelaide or not too far away.”<\/p>\n

Warm weather boosts South East, Riverland<\/p>\n

The sunny weather has extended all the way to the other side of the state, where unseasonably warm and dry conditions have helped tourism numbers in the state’s South East.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Biddie Shearing says AFL Gather Round travellers helped boost local tourism.\u00a0 (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n

City of Mount Gambier economy, strategy and engagement manager Biddie Shearing said, despite fuel costs and relying on “self-drive” tourism, visitor numbers had remained steady.<\/p>\n

“Gather Round has been really helpful for us, and we benefit from South Australian and Victorian holidays backing on to each other,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Our tourism market really relies on that self-drive market, so we were monitoring how things were going, but we continue to have strong visitation.<\/p>\n

“What we’ve heard through our visitor centre is that people are preferring to stay a bit closer to home and then once they’re here, staying longer.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Umpherston Sinkhole is one of the most popular tourist draws in Mount Gambier.\u00a0 (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n

About five hours further north in Renmark, local businesses were also content with visitor numbers.<\/p>\n

Cafe owner Latysha Forrest was concerned about what the price of fuel could mean for the busy tourism period.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s been a bit up and down. I think week one, a lot of locals went away, so a lot of that chunk of business went,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But coming into the second week, we’re seeing a lot of people travel up to the Riverland, so that’s great to see.”<\/p>\n

Walking along the River Murray, Martin van der Linden was on his family’s annual trip up from Adelaide.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Adelaide man Martin van der Linden is a regular Riverland visitor.\u00a0 (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)<\/p>\n

He said, despite the increase in fuel prices, visiting regional SA would be a priority.<\/p>\n

“South Australia’s got so many beautiful locations, we’re lucky to have the Fleurieu Peninsula, we’ve got Yorkes (Yorke Peninsula) to go fishing, the river, or you can go to the South East if you want,” he said.<\/p>\n

“South Australia is just blessed with regional locations that are great for tourism.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"School holidays in South Australia have revealed a split in how fuel prices have hit regional tourism, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,116015,32647,44,124977,3792],"class_list":["post-632781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-caravans","tag-fuel-costs","tag-news","tag-regional-tourism","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}