It was a long time coming and the economic impact of the Sask Summer Games on the Lloydminster economy is expected to be significant according to city staff.
“I have heard many comments from our food and beverage sector, from our hotels, that they are extremely busy and loving seeing the, the summer game visitors and participants in their community,” said Katlin Ducherer, City of Lloydminster economic development officer.
“I know that I’ve always contributed to my local economy and a few of my favourite spots have taken far longer than they usually do because of the influx of visitors and spending.”
Like Ducherer, residents and visitors realized they couldn’t go to many places last week in town and not see the impact it was having on the community. Favourite restaurants were busier than normal, hotels were packed, and area campgrounds all received boosts because of the games.
When council was deciding to get on board with the games the estimated impact on the community was going to be about five million dollars. But what is it going to mean in real dollars and cents and how do we get to that economic impact number?
“We’re members of Sports Tourism Canada, they have their own methodology when it comes to measuring impact,” stated Ducherer. “They come up with their own methodology, which is very accurate, instead of coming up with willy nilly numbers, it’s tried tested and true.”
Sports Tourism Canada through their STEAMPRO assessments can look at events from across the country, results from those events and help communities anticipate the financial gains of specific events.
Three steps are involved in those assessments.
1. Spectator Surveys
2. Tabulating the Results
3. Analysis and Reporting
“I’ve got people on the ground with surveys that are operated using a QR code asking how long you spent here, how much you spent daily, those types of questions,” explained Ducherer. “We then submit them to STC and they put it through their methodology and analysis and that is how we come up with those actual economic impact numbers.”
Antigonish, Nova Scotia held the 2018 Canadian Special Olympics with an estimated 900 athletes, 290 coaches, 3,000 spectators and 600 volunteers in a town of less than 10,000 people.
According to a report to council by nearby Halifax, Nova Scotia the estimated economic impact on Nova Scotia would be around $7.7 million dollars.
In the end, they attracted 3,963 visitors. According to STC the impact was nearly $8.7 million on the economy. It supported 49 jobs and produced a $5.1 million in boost to Provincial GDP.
That was for a national event in a small town and the economic impact was significant there. The last time our community participated in a STEAMPAC analysis was in 2013 when Lakeland College held the national volleyball championships. It’s why doing it again now is important.
“Lloydminster does consider events to be really important because we do understand the economic impact they have on our community” said Ducherer.
On that note, what’s next?
“We do have some pretty lofty goals for the next few years, we have a number of events we’ve talked too, different event rights holders that we are very interested in.”
The final numbers for this event will come back to council mid-fall.
Read More: Economic summit reconciles
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