The 2009 Tour Down Under will be held from 18 to 25 January next year, with the Union Cycliste Internationale this week confirming dates on the 2009 UCI ProTour calendar.

Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith says the world's best cycling teams will return to South Australia for the second UCI ProTour race.

The Tour Down Under made history this year when it became the first cycling event outside of Europe to be included in the UCI's prestigious ProTour circuit.

"We want next year's event to be even bigger and better than the record results we achieved in 2008," Dr Lomax-Smith says.

Preliminary results from the 2008 Tour Down Under reveal:

This year's Tour Down Under - the first UCI ProTour event ever staged outside of Europe - has been a record breaker for South Australia.

Preliminary economic impact and research figures received show that the 2008 Tour Down Under has provided a major economic boost, with more visitors to the state, greater participation in the support events, more spectators and increased media coverage.

Announcing details in parliament today, Minister for Tourism, Jane Lomax-Smith, said the results were a great reward for everyone involved and vindicated the State Government's efforts to secure Pro Tour status.

"I am delighted to announce that the 2008 Tour Down Under injected $17.3M (a 50.4% increase from 2007) into the State's economy through the direct expenditure of the 15,100 event specific visitors who traveled from interstate and overseas to witness cycling history," Dr Lomax-Smith said.

"Total visitor nights topped an all time high of 195,200. Of this amount 140,500 were contributed by the event specific visitors, meaning a 37.7% increase on event specific visitor nights compared to the 2007 event.