Adelaide Fringe 2016 Smashes Records

The 2016 Adelaide Fringe has smashed records for tourist visitation, ticket sales, attendances and economic expenditure.

Adelaide Fringe's Annual Review, released today, shows the Fringe delivered a staggering $21.7 million of new money to the state from interstate and international visitors, up almost 70 per cent in five years. This year's Adelaide Fringe attracted about 13,500 visitors and the total estimated number of visitor bed nights rose to almost 77,200, a 14 per cent increase on the 2015 figure.

The total expenditure related to the event was $77.6 million, up almost 13 per cent on last year's figure of $68.8 million.

Adelaide Fringe Chair David Minear said South Australians wholeheartedly supported the Adelaide Fringe and the numbers proved it.

"The magic and power of the Adelaide Fringe has economic, cultural and social benefits for South Australia and adds incredible value to the State," Mr Minear said.

"The number of people visiting South Australia specifically to attend the Adelaide Fringe increased 11 per cent this year compared to 2015, which shows that interstate and international audiences are increasingly hungry to experience what the Adelaide Fringe has to offer."

The 2016 Adelaide Fringe also generated $14.8 million in box office revenue "“ most of which goes directly to artists "“ a 64 per cent increase in five years. Ticket sales were up 11 per cent to 604,000 and attendances also sky rocketed to 2.26 million, an 8.4 per cent increase on 2015.

Adelaide Fringe Artistic Director and CEO Heather Croall said the Adelaide Fringe was by far the highest ticket selling multi-art form festival in Australia.

"I am thrilled at the outcomes of my first year as head of Adelaide Fringe," Ms Croall said.

"We recorded outstanding results across the board, Adelaide should be very proud of this incredible festival. The growth in the number of tourists coming to Adelaide Fringe this year shows the word is out, which is very encouraging and sets us well on our way to our target of tripling tourism numbers over three years."

Arts Minister Jack Snelling congratulated Adelaide Fringe on the milestone and its well-deserved success. "The Fringe not only captures the public's imagination with its celebration of so many art forms, it also brings thousands of additional dollars, jobs and tourists into South Australia," Minister Snelling said.

"The State Government, through Arts South Australia, is looking forward to helping showcase the world's second largest Fringe, at the world's largest "“ Edinburgh "“ as part of our Made in Adelaide activation in August.

"As a long-time supporter of the Adelaide Fringe, the State Government looks forward to another exciting and dynamic Fringe in 2017 with Heather Croall and her incredible team at the helm."

BankSA Chief Executive Nick Reade said the Adelaide Fringe is important to the cultural, social and economic fabric of the state and BankSA was proud to have played its part in helping the event grow.

"The Adelaide Fringe is now unquestionably a world-class event that all South Australians can be proud of and BankSA is already looking forward to continuing our principal partnership of the event into a twelfth year in 2017," Mr Reade said.

Mr Minear thanked the South Australian Government, Adelaide City Council and corporate partners for their support, highlighting Principle Partner BankSA's partnership of 11 years.

Adelaide Fringe's economic figures are determined by independent company, Economic Research Consultants, based on FringeTIX sales information and a survey of Fringe-goers, artists and producers.

Next year's Adelaide Fringe will run from 17 February to 19 March, 2017. The program will be launched in November this year.