kny wrote:
bhc wrote:
This is an article on the economic effect that IM- Kona has on the local economy. http://www.kpua.net/focus10132003.php A Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism study concluded that $14.9 million is pumped in to the island economy over Ironman race dates. Utilizing known multiplier effects, that number mushrooms to more than $26 million in total sales resulting in $2.5 million in tax revenues alone... I have no doubt that Kona has a huge, local economic impact, and that the Chamber, city council, and all powers-that-be locally are hugely supportive of WTC and keeping the event in town.
With that said, these economic impact studies are always hugely exaggerated, and the "multiplier effect" often used to make the numbers sound enormous are a farce. Frankly, $14.9m for Kona does not strike me as unreasonable considering the huge volume of non-athlete vendors and support that come for this prestigious event, so this particular study may have some grounding in reality, but these studies generally need to be drilled into to reveal the overly optimistic assumptions. I remember for IMNYC the economic impact pitched locally worked out to $14,000 per athlete, a number very hard to justify by any optimistic projections of affluent athlete spending or using "multiplier effect".
FWIM.... for Kona next year, here's my rough budget....
Entry fee - $850
Airfare - $6500 = 4 adults, 1 child.... not that they charge you less for a 40lb 6 year old...which is total BS... but I guess he ticket subsidizes the fat adults... maybe they should weight passengers and their luggage and a use an initial or minimum fee + a per lb price... that's how other cargo gets charged.
House rental ~$2200 with fees & taxes)? (1/4 mi from ocean, we know the sister of the owners, then have branch of their business in our town)
Car rental - $500?
Food & gifts, sights - $2500-3500 (could be very optimistic).
Total = around $12,000-13,000
Our cheaper accommodations skew the results a little I think.
We're also probably going to spend 3 days in Oahu afterwards, so that not included. The whole state gets a little bump from the event since a lot of folks often stay on another island after the event... not just Kona, but state taxes, not just local property taxes, pay for roads, schools, etc. If your paying $6000+ for airfare, might as well stick around a few more days. Could be 10-15 years before I visit there again.
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