A newly released report by the University Center for Economic Development, Center for Regional Studies and Ekay Economic Consultants has found that downtown pub crawls generate considerable economic benefits to the area.
The report looked at the 2013 Reno Santa Pub Crawl, a charity event by Reindeer Charities, and found that its total economic impact is $5.591 million to the economy. Total expenditures were $3.757 million with direct, indirect and induced impacts contributing to the total.
City general fund expenditures on the event are minimal, however. According to the report, “in 2013 City of Reno provided direct and indirect public services to the Santa Crawl event in the amount of approximately $40,500. This included police, fire, equipment rental and other services. Given the estimated quantifiable revenue for the City of Reno from primary visitors of $46,553, the Santa Crawl event generated sufficient revenue to cover costs associated with the event.”
This lead the city to recommend continuing the event.
The city’s special events program manager, Alexis Hill, said, “The University of Nevada found that when the most conservative data is utilized, the Santa Crawl generates sufficient tax revenue (of taxable sales) to the City of Reno to cover the City’s costs associated with the event of an estimated $46,553. The total economic impact from non-local visitation to the Reno Santa Crawl is estimated at $5,591,067.”
Other report findings:
- Word of mouth often drives pub crawl attendance, followed by social media and websites as information sources, according to report. Newspapers, magazines, radio and TV are the lowest cited sources of information among attendees.
- Attendees are generally educated, with the top-ranked categories indicating attendees having “some college” or a bachelor’s degree.
- Attendees are mostly employed full time.
- Attendees tend toward being local (63%) versus non-local (37%).
- Non-local attendees spend more money while here than locals.
- The Santa Crawl supports 45 full-time jobs for one year; the total employment impact is 61 full-time jobs.
- Estimated total taxable sales impacts for the Santa Crawl are $2.26 million.
- The Santa Crawl event promoter made charitable contributions of $34,000, which included playground equipment to Washoe County schools, medical supplies and Hug High School uniforms.
NOTE: All figures are rounded for readability. Read the complete report here.
