2014 Ironman Economic Impact Summary
2014 Ironman Economic Impact Summary
2014 Ironman Economic Impact Summary
November 2014
Prepared for:
Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau
Prepared by:
RRC Associates, Inc.
4770 Baseline Rd., Suite 360
Boulder, CO 80301
303/449-6558
www.rrcassociates.com
Methodology
The results presented in this report are based on a survey of competitors in the Boulder
IRONMAN. Competitors were interviewed at the athlete check-in, held at the Boulder High
School on July 31 and August 1. A team of trained interviewers, using electronic tablets,
conducted face-to-face (intercept) surveys with athletes. The survey was quite short, collecting
only a few key pieces of information, along with an email address for sending out a follow-up
survey. A total of 402 intercept surveys were gathered during the pre-race check-in. The
cooperation rate for the intercept survey was very high, estimated at over 90 percent.
The 402 intercept surveys represent a margin of error of 4.51 percent (at the 95 percent
confidence interval). These results are well within industry standards for market research
studies.
A more detailed survey was emailed after the race to those competitors who provided an email
address. The invitation to the post-race survey was sent out on Wednesday, August 6, and two
additional reminder emails were sent in the subsequent weeks. 133 completed post-race
surveys were received. The face-to-face and post-race surveys were matched (using the
athletes email address) to create a complete survey record for each respondent.
RRC Associates
Boulder CVB
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The results of the study are summarized in this section. Please see the main body of the report
for more detail on these and other topics.
The IRONMAN race in Boulder saw 2,624 competitors start the event.
Forty percent of non-Boulder County competitors visited Boulder to train prior to the
race. These competitors made an average of 2.6 pre-race trips to Boulder for a total of
3.2 nights across all pre-race training trips.
For the IRONMAN event itself, the average nights stayed was 5.1 nights.
Overall, 6.5 percent of the race starters were residents of the City of Boulder. 52
percent were visitors lodging in Boulder, and 42 percent were visitors lodging outside
Boulder.
Total direct economic impact was $4.41 million for the Boulder region.
Total secondary economic impact (indirect plus induced effects) was $1.96 million.
Amount
$4,966,352
$4,414,713
$1,958,615
$6,373,327
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Boulder CVB
REPORT FINDINGS
Competitor Characteristics
Share of Travel
Party Spending
$734.84
44.8%
$378.79
23.1%
$302.46
18.4%
$118.13
7.2%
$108.45
6.6%
$1,642.66
100%
Spending Type
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Boulder CVB
Per person per day Expenditures. Average per person per day spending was $197, much
higher than $133 per person per day for all Boulder visitors (from the 2012 Visitor
Economic Impact study). Those staying in a hotel during the IRONMAN spent an
average of $222 per person per day.
Trip Length. Average trip length for IRONMAN competitor parties was 5.1 nights, a
relatively long length of stay that suggests athletes stayed both before and after the
event. The impact of these extended trips is significant for hotels and other tourism
businesses in Boulder.
Direct Spending on Pre-Race Training Trips. These pre-race training trips generated an
estimated $871,191 in direct expenditure in the Boulder area.
Table 3
Average Competitor Party Expenditures, by Type
Direct Spending
Direct Spending IRONMAN visit
$4,095,162
$871,191
RRC Associates
$4,966,352
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Boulder CVB
Total Direct Spending. Total direct spending, both during the IRONMAN event and for
pre-race training trips to Boulder, was $4,966,352. Of that total, an estimated
$4,312,665 (or 87 percent) was spent in the City of Boulder.
Opportunity Cost. The Boulder IRONMAN event occurred during a traditionally busy
time for hotels and other visitor-dependent businesses. Indeed, historic occupancy rates
in Boulder during the first weekend in August have been in excess of 95 percent. While
the argument could be made that IRONMAN competitors (and their travel party
members) were taking hotel rooms that would have been occupied anyway, it is difficult
to say with much precision how that first weekend in August would have been different
without the IRONMAN event. The very long length of stay and the pre-race training
visits associated with IRONMAN definitely contribute to the overall impact.
Direct Visitor Expenditures shows the estimated dollar amounts spent by all
competitors and their travel party in conjunction with the Boulder IRONMAN event,
including pre-race training trips to Boulder (as collected on visitor surveys and discussed
above).
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Boulder CVB
multiplier effect. This includes indirect effects associated with the supply chain (e.g.
the linen provider which services a hotel) and induced effects associated with
employees in directly or indirectly affected industries spending their wages in the local
economy; plus related follow-on rounds of economic activity from these indirect and
induced effects. This analysis uses output multipliers calculated by the Minnesota
IMPLAN Group for applicable industry sectors for the City of Boulder as of 2013, to
estimate secondary economic impacts.
Total Economic Impact represents the sum of direct and secondary economic impacts.
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