Luxury cabins planned at Murray Bridge Tourist Park

Murray Bridge Tourist Park is planning a luxurious new experience for visitors after becoming the first business in the region to secure an offer of state government funding.

The government will put $113,000 towards the cost of building three luxury cabins – which will also be more accessible to guests with mobility impairments – at the park at the top of Adelaide Road.

The park’s owners, Kylie and Wayne Scholz, will invest $312,000 in the project.

Ms Scholz said the government funding would help her business keep up with demand.

“We’ve been nudging park capacity for six months now, with the post-COVID crowd really keen to get out and travel again, especially in their caravans and campers,” she said.

“However, there’s still a strong market for self-contained cabins, and even though we have been building cabins for the past seven years, we still simply don’t have enough to cater for the demand.

“We want to make the most of this regional tourism boom, and now we can.”

Premier Steven Marshall said the funding was intended to help create jobs in regional South Australia by attracting visitors – and their spending money – from around the state and the nation.

“It’s great that we’ve got a pipeline of new and exciting experiences to keep visitors coming back to our regions,” he said.

“All of our 42 (Tourism Industry Development Fund) projects will give visitors a multitude of reasons to travel to South Australia and our regions to boost our economy.”

Murray River, Lakes and Coorong tourism development manager Bill Nehmy encouraged more businesses to capitalise on expected industry growth by applying for funding.

“At less than an hour from Adelaide, we’re in the perfect position to capture that driving-holiday traffic,” he said.

“However, in order to keep those families, groups, couples and other travellers here longer, we need to have the product available to offer them.”

Grants have so far been awarded to 42 South Australian businesses, but only the one in the Murray River, Lakes and Coorong.

• More information: tourism.sa.gov.au.

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