Future proofing Tasmania’s top tourist attraction

Published on 21 March 2023

The City of Hobart has taken the next step in future-proofing the world class Salamanca Market.

Salamanca Market remains Tasmania’s most visited tourist attraction, regularly surging past the 20,000 attendance mark each Saturday.

Of those attending each market day, figures show 70 per cent come from outside of Tasmania as the state surges back from the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a huge economic benefit to the city and the state.

The Hobart City Council, which has a proud history supporting Salamanca, taking it from a handful of stalls in 1972 to more than 300 businesses plying their trade each Saturday, has endorsed a recommendation for a 30-day consultation with all stallholders and the Salamanca Market Stallholders’ Association as part of a proposed new licence agreement to sustain it into the future.

This proposal would result in an average market site fee increase of $9.58 (excluding GST) per market day, with most stalls increasing by $8.76 (excluding GST) per market day for each year of the agreement.

CPI increases will not be applied until mid 2024.

Depending on the location of the market stall, the biggest site fee increase will be $12.64 per day, with the smallest $6.77 (excluding GST).

Importantly, the site fees will be re-invested back into the market to support stallholders and ensure Salamanca retains its unique vibe and its status as Tasmania’s No.1 tourist attraction.

The City is committed to maintaining a vibrant, successful market.

The stallholder fees also go towards supporting the high-quality experience at the market every Saturday.

This includes how we tell the amazing stories of our stallholders to customers through better promotion, easier wayfinding and improved digital information.

Included in this process would be a review of council costs around the market.

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds encouraged all stallholders to submit feedback during the consultation period.

“This is the start of a process rather than the end of one,” Cr Reynolds said.

“We've asked the staff to review the cost of the management, promotion and operation of the market and look for any savings.

“So we are listening to the stallholders concerns about whether we're running the market as efficiently as we could and should be.

“That information will come back to councillors before we make a final decision on the licence agreement.”

The consultation period with stallholders commences on 27 March and closes on 26 April 2023.

All submissions received by the City will be presented to elected members for consideration at the 22 May council meeting.