Adelaide on path to becoming Australia's new big destination

Adelaide, the fifth-largest city in Australia, has been announced as the host of the 2019 World Routes forum. This is the first time the event will be held in Australia, although the Australian city of Brisbane will host Routes Asia 2018.

World Routes gives Adelaide the opportunity to showcase what the city, as a destination, has to offer to potential visitors. The city was named one of the top places to go last year by The New York Times – the only Australian city on the list. This list also featured the 2016 host of the World Routes forum, Chengdu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6PmvnmyVcY

Adelaide is brimming with sights, sounds and activities that attracts visitors from all over the world. The beauty of Adelaide is it has something to offer all types of travellers – with white-sand beaches, world-class zoos, outstanding cuisine and bespoke markets.

For an authentic Australian experience, Adelaide’s Cleland Wildlife Park is a must-see. Many of the animals at the park live in their natural habitat, although are accustomed to having visitors which allows for feeding the animals. The giant pandas, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, may be the star attractions at the park, but there are plenty of animals native to Australia living there. This includes, but is not limited to, koalas, kangaroos and dingoes, along with native birds, snakes and reptiles.

The beach-side suburb of Glenelg continuously is named as one of the top sites of the city. It encapsulates everything you would want to see in Adelaide: sandy white shores along with shops, restaurants and attractions, as well as being home to wild dolphins.

Australia’s first pedestrianised main street, Rundle Mall was opened 40 years ago and remains the hub of shopping in the city. Today it is home to 700 retailers, 300 non-retail services and offices, four leading department stores and 15 arcades and centres – so you won’t be bored at Rundle Mall.

Australia is renowned for its wine, and Adelaide is home to Barossa, which has more than 150 wineries. At Barossa, you can locate and taste the wine from the year of your birth. Should it suit your palette, you can take home a bottle from your birth year in a personalised presentation case.

One of the largest under-cover markets in the Southern Hemisphere resides in Adelaide. The Adelaide Central Market has more than 80 traders under one roof and has been a thriving hub of both culture and food for more than 145 years. More than 8.5 million people visit the market each year, and with so much on offer including some of the city’s most popular cafes and eateries, it is easy to see why.

Speaking during his keynote interview at World Routes in Chengdu, Tourism Australia's managing director John O'Sullivan spoke about the excitement around both Brisbane hosting the Routes Asia forum in 2018, and Adelaide actively bidding to host World Routes in 2019. You can see his interview below.

John O'Sullivan keynote interview
Laura Hamill

Originally from Belfast, Laura graduated from De Montfort University, Leicester with a BA Hons English and Journalism degree in 2014. She has…