New specialty tours, pop-up and seasonal experiences and events could be set to grace iconic South Australian tourism places thanks to a new $550,000 round of State Government grant funding to activate nature and heritage-based tourism initiatives.

 The funding will be available via the $300,000 Nature-Based Tourism Small Grants Program and the $250,000 Heritage Tourism Grants Program.

 The Nature-Based Tourism Small Grants Program is part of the $5m Nature-Based Tourism Co-investment Fund launched in 2020 to help businesses activate or build on existing ecologically sensitive tourism offerings in the state’s national parks, reserves, botanic gardens and Crown land.

It will provide grants of up to $15,000 for small-scale and innovative projects to support tourism activation in South Australia, grow the economy and create jobs.

Environment and Water Minister David Speirs said the program was about creating new tourism experiences including seasonal or pop-up ventures, as well as tourism events in parks and public places both in metropolitan and regional South Australia.

“We have listened to local tourism operators who have expressed an interest in designing and delivering small scale tourism activation projects such as wellness experiences in outstanding nature locations, guided cultural tours, winter campfire storytelling events and easy shuttle transfers for biking and walking experiences,” he said.

“This grant program gives tourism operators an opportunity to get these ideas off the ground, without the need to provide matching cash funds, which is a requirement for the larger grants under the fund.”