Asian food festival breaks Rundle Mall visitation records
More people visited Rundle Mall in late March to attend an Asian food festival than the shopping weekend right before Christmas, setting a new foot traffic record for the promenade.
New Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA) data found Rundle Mall has again broken visitor records, with the Colours of Asia festival attracting 681,478 people into the shopping strip between 21-24 March.
This is 47 per cent higher than the Mall’s 12-month weekend foot traffic average and up on the previous record of 608,532 visitors, set just months prior on the weekend directly before Christmas.
AEDA executive manager Rundle Mall Andrew White said the Colours of Asia Festival – a three-day food and cultural festival showcasing 16 food vendors in the centre of the Mall – was a resounding success.
“An incredible 680,000 people visited the Mall across the three days, with Colours of Asia making a significant contribution towards setting our new visitation record,” he said.
“Colours of Asia is a great example of how we are finding new ways to bring vibrancy to the Mall and create unexpected, memorable experiences for visitors across the day and night and provide benefits for our traders.
“Rundle Mall is known for being more than just a retail precinct and its reputation as a food and drinks destination continues to grow.”
The new AEDA data also showed that March 2025 was the biggest-ever March for Rundle Mall visitation, up five per cent on 2024.
Stay informed, daily
“Hundreds of thousands of shoppers, visitors, students, city workers and Fringe-goers enjoyed the market atmosphere and some incredible Asian delights while they were in the city,” added White.
“During Colours of Asia, Rundle Mall was as busy at 10pm than it was at 10am, which shows the strength of the Mall’s night-time economy and South Australians’ appetite for events and activations till late.”
Rundle Mall trader and Peter Shearer Menswear managing director Dharmesh Raman said the festival increased foot traffic to the store by 38 per cent across the weekend.
“The feedback we’ve had from retailers is that people came into the Mall not just to enjoy the food festival but the explore the Precinct and spend money in retail businesses,” White said.
