The economic impact of four elite swimming events in England.

This study presents the findings of an extensive programme of research designed to evaluate the economic impact of four, small-scale swimming events on their respective host communities, namely; the City of Sheffield Designated Open Meet, the Western Counties Swimming Championships (Millfield), the Middlesborough Open Meet and the Satellite Open Meet (Macclesfield). In this context economic impact is defined as 'the net change in a host community that results from spending attributed to a sports event or facility' (Turco and Kelsey, 1992, p. 9). A study of this nature can help define the potential economic benefits of staging a relatively small, competitor-led event on a host city (Gratton and Taylor, 2000). Furthermore, such a study can complement and potentially reinforce the growing body of research concerning economic impact and the projects commissioned by Sports Councils, governing bodies and Local Authorities in the United Kingdom. This new data can help to achieve a better understanding of the economic benefits associated with staging sport events. It is now a widely held view that sports events can act as a 'catalyst' for economic development and urban regeneration (DCMS, 2002). Much has been made of the potential economic benefits of hosting major sport events. Indeed, much research has focussed on the economic impacts of sport events such as the First Cornhill Test Match; England versus Australia (1997), 2000 Flora London Marathon, 2001 World Snooker Championships, 2001 World Half Marathon (LIRC, 1998 - 2001). However, this study examines much smaller events. The research utilises a standardised methodology established by UK Sport (2000), which has been adapted to accommodate the objectives of this research. The methodology is based upon primary data collection in the form of self-completion questionnaires, and a total of 857 surveys were administered at the four events, providing an average sample size of 67%. The results suggest that small-scale local swimming events have the potential to generate unequivocal economic benefit to their host communities providing that secondary expenditure opportunities are available. In total more than £80,000 was generated over 8 days of competition. Commercial accommodation was responsible for the majority of the expenditure, followed by food and drink and shopping and souvenirs. The findings from the analysis of the four events have been used to develop a model, which can predict the potential economic impact at a Type D swimming event. Furthermore, this model has been tested on another economic impact study on an event of similar nature and has proved to over estimate 33%.