The 10-day festival will take place from April 5-14, with Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment David Ridgway telling today’s program launch that it is expected to attract more than 60,000 people.

One of the new centerpiece events, the Tasting Australia Flotilla, will take place over three days during which guests stay on houseboats on the River Murray.

The Flotilla experience doesn’t come cheap (prices start at $2210 per person) but the TA program promises a “gastronomic journey” that will include nightly dinners on the paddle steamer Marion cooked by chefs including Cheong Liew and Adam Liston.

The Surf Food Safari ($3000pp), another three-day experience, is billed as an off-road adventure on the Yorke Peninsula which will include surfing lessons and meals by Byron Bay chef and surfer Darren Robertson (Three Blue Ducks restaurant) and Simon Burr (of Strathalbyn’s Olfactory Inn).

The TA Glasshouse Kitchen in Victoria Square will host a series of themed dining events programmed by festival director Simon Bryant and programming director Jock Zonfrillo and featuring interstate and international guest chefs such as Peter Gilmore (from Sydney’s acclaimed Quay restaurant), Alex Atala (from D.O.M. in Brazil), Shinobu Namea (L’Effervescence, Tokyo) and Mat Lindsay (Poly and Ester, Sydney).

Tasting Australia’s Glasshouse Kitchen.

The 2019 event will also see the return of “Tasting Australia Airlines” – full-day or weekend food experiences at Coffin Bay, Kangaroo Island, Mayura Station, Flinders Ranges and the Barossa ­– and a series of wine, beer and spirit masterclasses devised by TA beverage director Nick Stock and East End Cellars

Other events likely to prove popular are the D’Arenberg Cube Surrealist Ball (which sold out early this year), a four-course Dinner in the Dark at the National Wine Centre, a Fleurieu Peninsula excursion hosted by the Star of Greece where guests can catch their own seafood feast, and a six-course degustation dinner in the Treasury tunnels.