THE importance of high-profile sporting events for regional economies has been highlighted in Tamworth these school holidays, with millions of dollars flowing into city accommodation and hospitality venues within a few weeks.
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About 500 young hockey players, many of them visitors, were in Tamworth with their families on the first weekend of the holidays for the York Cup and Kim Small Shield for under-11s.
Today signals the beginning of the State Under-13 Girls’ Hockey Championships, which involves a similar number of players, and next weekend the National Primary Games, run by the Northern Inland Academy of Sport, is coming to town.
Tamworth Hockey Association president Mark O’Connor said Hockey NSW had done some modelling on the economic value of hosting a state championship, showing it could easily be in the order of $1 million.
He put a similar figure on last week’s York Cup and Kim Small Shield.
“I’d comfortably say that they’ll bring in excess of $2 million into the Tamworth economy,” Mr O’Connor said.
“You’re also bringing thousands of people to Tamworth who might become future business owners, future residents or future tourists.”
It all adds up to a profitable time for local venues and tourist attractions, and the importance of these kind of events is not lost on Destination Tamworth manager economic and destination development Craig Dunstan.
When the accepted formula for money spent per tourist or events visitor a night is $120, the numbers certainly add up.
“And they’re very safe estimates,” Mr Dunstan said. “The general feedback is that it’s higher than that.”
Mr Dunstan said more organisations and businesses were doing the work on their own, too, the current hockey championships an example.
“It’s positive for (Destination Tamworth) not having to be involved all the time and fantastic more of these organisations are coming through with their own events,” he said.
