Opposite page from left: The Santos Tour Down
Under. Right: Aerial view of Adelaide.
“It does this both by bringing visitors to
the state – with some 39,000 interstate and
international residents here in 2016 – and
though media coverage and its television
broadcast,” she says.
The race, which covered more than 780km
in 2016 (and will add over 100km to that in
2017), became the first event outside Europe
to join the ICU WorldTour in 2008 and has
grown year on year to become the largest
cycling race in the Southern Hemisphere.
Joining the WorldTour, run by the
Union Cycliste Internationale, the world
cycling governing body, and which also
includes the likes of the Tour de France,
corresponded to massive growth in
spectators and economic impact, with
over 200,000 additional spectators in 2009
and an economic impact which more than
doubled on the previous year to $39 million.
In 2016, 795,000 spectators attended, and
the event notched up a record economic
impact of $49.6 million.
The impressive statistics no doubt have
much to do with the “festival of cycling”
Events South Australia has created around
the event, turning the nine days of racing
into a mass participation event, involving
around 7000 recreational and amateur
riders who took part in events like the Bupa
Challenge Tour, the Bupa Family Ride, the
Mini Tour for Kids and the Norton Summit
Time Trial, which allow the public to ride
sections of the course hours before the
professional riders take to the road.
In addition, the State events body works
with the councils who hold race starts
and finishes – in the six stage race, 10
different metropolitan and regional councils
host a start or a finish – as they organise
events including street parties, markets,
family entertainment and other festivities
to encourage people to stay longer in the
regions. In 2016, approximately 75,000
people attended these tour related council
activities. With the race passing through
regions like the Barossa Valley and the
Fleurieu Peninsula, the race pushes visitors
into regional South Australia, highlighting
many of the state’s great tourism assets – its
wine regions, great surfing, fishing and whale
watching spots and its gourmet food offerings.
As Rasheed says, the Tour features
“places often well-known by locals but not
necessarily by those who follow the race”.
“The Santos Tour Down Under is unlike
any other South Australian event, primarily
because it combines a base in Adelaide
with regional race stages. This – along with
worldwide broadcast and media coverage
– amplifies its tourism benefit; visitors
experience our vibrant capital and are
encouraged to discover all that lies beyond
the city,” she says.
“The Santos Tour Down Under is unique
among UCI WorldTour stage races for its
use of a central city base combined with
regional racing. All other events of its type
require riders and their teams to relocate
each day, a process that is often tiring
for athletes and does not allow events to
create a hub such as the Adelaide City
Council Tour Village across both sides of
Victoria Square.”
The Tour Village, as well as the city finish
for the final stage of the race, ensures the
capital gets an appropriate share of the
spotlight – in 2016, approximately 50,000
people visited the Village for an exclusive
look behind the scenes at the day-to-day
life of a professional cycling team.
Rasheed believes Adelaide provides an
www.cimmagazine.com Convention & Incentive Marketing, Issue 8, 2016 11