The Liberals' tourism spokesman, Duncan McFetridge, says next year's event has been scaled back from five weeks to three.

Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith says the drought has caused a drop in cattle numbers and therefore less demand for the event.

But Mr McFetridge says bookings for the event are down because the marketing campaign has been half-hearted.

"The marketing budget has been cut by $4.6 million this year, in this year's budget, and we've seen a downturn in marketing and a downturn in tourism in South Australia in the past year," he said.

Source: abc.net.au