14 Oct Event Impact Analysis
How Much Do Events Boost Wagga’s Economy?
The article below authored by Business Wagga Wagga is a great example of how the REMPLAN Tourism Analysis Module can be applied to estimate the direct and flow-on benefits of a event to a local economy.
“In July this year, some 100 delegates from around Australia visited Wagga Wagga to attend the 2010 Saleyard Operators Conference. So what economic impact did this have on Wagga Wagga? Armed with the latest version of the economic modelling software, REMPLAN, we can now more readily provide an assessment of the impact of these types of events.
Wagga Wagga City Council owns and operates the Wagga Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre (WWLMC). WWLMC is the largest sheep selling saleyards in Australia, selling some 1.86 million head of sheep in 2008/09, and the fourth largest cattle selling saleyards, selling 130,000 head of cattle in that year.
Wagga Wagga City Council won the right to host the 2010 Saleyard Operators Conference after an impressive presentation of our credentials at the 2009 conference in Inverell.
Council staff organised the conference in Wagga Wagga. It spanned two days comprising speakers, industry tours, family tours and a gala dinner which was held at the Wagga Wagga Country Club.
There were some 70 registrations from delegates attending the full two days, plus a further 30 attended selected sessions and / or the gala dinner. So there was a significant amount of expenditure into the local economy.
The registration fees funded the costs of speakers, conference marketing, meals and drinks, transport for the tours, exhibition booths, printing, gifts and venue hire. In addition to these flows into the economy, the delegates funded their own accommodation, fuel, flights, other meals and drinks, and general shopping around town.
The upshot of all this activity was a total estimated direct expenditure by the visitors of $80,000, or $800 per delegate. This is substantially higher expenditure than the $133 an average overnight visitor may spend!
This direct expenditure flows around the economy in two ways – one, it goes to businesses that supply products and services to the conference, and secondly it goes to people working in those businesses in the form of wages and salaries. Then the people who earn this money spend a portion of it in the Wagga Wagga economy, and this results in another round of expenditure in the economy.
So the expenditure derived from the conference delegates flows around the economy multiple times. REMPLAN models all these rounds of expenditure. REMPLAN estimates that the total expenditure resulting from the initial direct expenditure of $80,000 was $154,000.
This implies that every dollar spent by a visitor to the Saleyard Operators Conference generated almost a further dollar of expenditure in the Wagga Wagga economy. This extra dollar resulted from the flow-on industrial effects from local purchases of goods and services, and the extra consumption caused by the increased wages and salaries.
In terms of placing this in some context, the additional value to Wagga Wagga’s economy amounted to an increase in Gross Regional Product (GRP) of $64,000. This compares with Wagga Wagga’s GRP in 2008/09 of $3,383 million – so a small increase, but an increase nevertheless, and a payoff for the time and resources invested in winning and then hosting the conference.
Additionally, the conference brings other economic benefits which are difficult to quantify, including the industry networking, raising the profile of the WWLMC, increased expertise within Council in winning and managing events, and perhaps most importantly, providing an opportunity for 100 visitors to experience wonderful Wagga Wagga!”
For further information regarding the REMPLAN Tourism Analysis Module please follow this link: www.remplan.com.au/products/tourism/
Please contact the team at Compelling Economics to discuss any questions you may have regarding tourism and its contributions to you economy: 03 5444 4788 or 1300 737 443
No Comments