July 6, 2012 (Ottawa) – The economic impact assessment of the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship was released today by the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA). The event was held in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, from December 26th 2011 to January 5th, 2012.
An estimated 445,218 spectators attended the 31 games that were hosted in the two cities, with an additional 53,000 spectators taking in pre-tournament games held throughout the province. Approximately 30,000 out-of-town visitors attended the event.
The combined spending of visitors who attended the pre-competition and tournament games, plus the revenues and expenditures of the host organizing committee, media, and the capital upgrades to facilities as a result of hosting event, totaled $51.0 million. This spending generated an estimated $86.2 million in economic activity for the Province of Alberta, of which $30.9 million occurred in Edmonton and $36.8 million occurred in Calgary. These expenditures supported $18.6 million in wages and salaries in the Province through the support of 396 jobs, of which an estimated 164 were in Edmonton and 146 were in Calgary. The total net economic activity (GDP) generated by the event was $56.1 million throughout the Province, with $20.0 million occurring in Edmonton and $24.4 million occurring in Calgary.
Considerable tax revenues were also produced by the event, totaling $11.5 million. The event supported federal government tax revenues of $5.6 million, and an additional $3.1 million in taxes accrued to the Province of Alberta. Moreover, $2.8 million in taxes was supported in Alberta municipalities, of which $1.3 million accrued in Edmonton and $1.2 million accrued in Calgary.
The event also benefited from the efforts of more than 1,200 volunteers, who made a significant contribution to the success of the Championship.
"The IIHF World Junior Championship is one of the premier sport tourism events in the country,” said Marco De Iaco, Vice-President, Sales, Sport & Major Events, Tourism Calgary. “It drives immediate visitation and economic activity, elevates the host city's brand and, as with today's announcement, provides tremendous and lasting community legacies."
“As a hockey-mad city, having the IIHF World Junior Championship kick off in Edmonton was the perfect Boxing Day gift,” said Cliff Higuchi, interim Vice-President of Tourism at Edmonton Economic Development Corporation. “Visitors had a chance to experience our sports and hockey heritage, and our volunteers and fans’ passion and generosity showed. Not only did this event showcase our city, its legacy will be felt by the community and the hockey players of tomorrow.”
“The IIHF World Junior Championship is Canada’s holiday tradition, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the impact the 2012 World Juniors had not only on Calgary and Edmonton, but on communities across Alberta,” said Bob Nicholson, Hockey Canada president and CEO. “Hockey Canada has a proud tradition of hosting international hockey events, and each and every one has left a lasting impression on the provinces and cities that play host to the world’s best.”
The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance conducted the analysis on behalf of the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship host organizing committee and Hockey Canada. To conduct the assessment, the CSTA used STEAM PRO (Sport Tourism Economic Assessment Model – Professional version), which measures the economic impact of a sport event on a community.
A total of 1,469 valid on-site surveys were conducted and collated at the competition venues, providing the survey results with a combined confidence interval of +/- 3.9%, 19 times out of 20. The survey was conducted using the Techneos Entryware Pro System, which features the Entryware™ Designer software program for preparing the questionnaires as well as Entryware™ for Palm OS running on handheld PDA’s for data collection.
A full copy of the economic impact report is available at www.canadiansporttourism.com.
2012 IIHF World Jr Economic Impact Report (PDF)
About CSTA
The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance is a tourism industry led organization that promotes sport tourism as an economic development initiative at the community level. The CSTA services over 400 members across Canada, including 125 municipalities, 200 national and provincial sport, multi-sport and major games organizations and variety of other sport and tourism industry partners. Sport tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry with approximately $3.6 billion in annual spending by domestic and international visitors.
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Contact:
Kevin Webster
Manager, Domestic Events
Hockey Canada
403-777-3611
Rick Traer, CEO
Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance
613-688-5843