The Region

The Fleurieu Region, just 52 kilometres South of Adelaide, is one of South Australia's most popular tourist areas.

Covering an area of 2,873 square kilometres, with a mild Mediterranean climate of cool, wet winters and warm dry summers, the region is acclaimed for its picturesque coastline and hinterland, and its vineyards and beaches. Diverse topography adds to the region's uniqueness. Quality attractions and growing eco-tourism facilities are also luring visitors from interstate and overseas.

The region is home to 38,321 people, or 2.4 per cent of the State's population with significant concentrations of population along the south coast and in the townships of Strathalbyn and Yankalilla/Normanville. Of the residents in the region (21,505 or 56%), live in Alexandrina Local Government Area (Alexandrina DC Coastal 11,946 & Alexandrina DC Strathalbyn 9559), followed by Victor Harbor (12,489 or 33.5%) and Yankalilla (4,327 or 11%)

(ABS 2006)

Of the nine main townships, the largest is Victor Harbor, with others such as Goolwa, Mount Compass, Yankalilla and Strathalbyn attracting more and more interest as attractive places to live, visit and do business. The region contains a variety of communities from a coastal 'sea change' zone to small farming centres.

Growth

The Fleurieu population continues to grow at an average annual rate of 3.1% (5199 persons) compared to a 0.7% (56476 persons) annual State growth. In general, each District Council in the region has recorded population increase.

During the five years to June 2006, Alexandrina Council recorded relatively large and rapid growth, the highest annual percentage population growth of 3.4% (3330 persons) within the region, ranking it as the second fastest growing LGA outside of Adelaide.

Victor Harbor increasing at 2.4% annual growth (1381 persons) and Yankalilla, 2.4% annual percentage growth or (479 persons), has the Fleurieu Region being ranked as the fastest growing region in Outer Adelaide.

(ABS 2006)

The Fleurieu Region has experienced significantly higher than State average population growth over the past 15 years. This growth is projected to continue, providing exceptional business development and investment opportunities. Recent extensions and improvements to connecting freeways have made the region even more accessible to Adelaide.

The many natural attractions of the Fleurieu Region, together with diverse recreational options, entice over 2 million visitors to the area each year. In 2006, the Fleurieu Peninsula tourism region attracted more visits than any other SA region except Adelaide. An estimated 2,144,000 million Domestic Day Trips and 639,000 overnight visitors stayed nearly 1.9 million nights in the region.

(Fleurieu Peninsula Regional Tourism Profle 2006 SATC)

Fleurieu Peninsula is known as the Water, Wine and Wildlife region. Attractions include magnificent swimming and surfing beaches, food and wine experiences, river port and coastal shipping heritage, inland water sports, whale & penguin watching, fishing, scuba diving, steam trains, a network of high-quality golf courses and access to the Coorong National Park. Other popular family recreation facilities include adventure parks, wildlife sanctuaries and conservation parks.

Diverse Primary Production and Industry

The region also continues to be strategically significant for primary industry in South Australia with approximately 20 per cent of its working population engaged in this sector. Diversified agriculture and viticulture also provide a large part of the region's income. Conversion of traditional beef and sheep properties to various forms of horticulture is a major trend. Other growth crops include wine grapes, olives, vegetables and berries.

Milk provides more than 40 per cent of the region's gross value of agricultural production with sheep, pig and poultry meat contributing another 20 per cent. The bulk of South Australia's late (January) lamb production comes from the Fleurieu. Crops grown include barley, wheat, oats, lucerne, potatoes and vegetables. Other produce includes apples, pears, almonds and strawberries.

Langhorne Creek wine region and, to a lesser extent, Currency Creek wine region , Victor Harbor and Yankalilla (Southern Fleurieu Wine Region) are areas of significant growth in viticulture. At Langhorne Creek, strong demand for local wine processing facilities has led to the establishment of several new grape-crushing plants in an attempt to reduce transport time and costs. Some of the larger wineries also have plans to establish bottling facilities in the region.

An olive crushing and bottling facility has been established at Mount Compass to capitalise on the region's ongoing expansion of olive tree plantations. The olive industry and its associated value-added products represent significant potential for the region.

Boat building and maintenance are also considered to have considerable growth potential. The industry is focussed almost exclusively at Goolwa, where the town's favourable location on Lake Alexandrina provides a natural advantage. The lake is also popular for recreational boating and fishing. Professional fishing operates around much of the peninsula, in the lakes and along the Coorong.

The region's existing manufacturing base ranges from electrical componentry to furniture manufacturing and other light industries. Small and large furniture manufacturers have been locating in the region over the past few years. The electrical componentry sector has seen a growth in both large and small electronic firms in the region.

Investment opportunities

The tourism and leisure industry continues as an area of significant development and investment potential. Opportunities exist for golf course resorts, other tourism attractions and accommodation.

High-quality land and water resources for primary production make the region an excellent proposition for export value adding food production, such as olives, wine and aquaculture products.

As population and business growth increase, further retail, manufacturing and service industry investment opportunities will emerge, presenting a quality, low-cost location in close proximity to Adelaide, from which to base export operations.