Events worth millions

THIS week the City of Greater Geelong is spruiking the $76 million generated from Geelong’s major events over the past year.

Economic forecasting has determined that the city got a lot of bang for its 1.5 million bucks, with the major events funded by the council over 2016-17 providing a return on investment of 50-to-one.

The forecasting takes into account the money spent by attendees, marketing and brand exposure, as well as other flow-on economic benefits for the city.

While it's clearly not an exact science, $76 million is a pretty impressive figure and certainly something worth celebrating.

But a close look at some of the itemised events does raise some questions.

For instance, the 220 people who attended this year’s Viper Class Sailing World Championship are estimated to have helped pump $423,759 into the region’s economy, while the National Road Cycling Championships, which attracted just 500 people, helped produce an economic windfall of $500,000. Even taking into account participants and associated businesses and brand potential, they seem like some mighty big numbers.

We will have to wait for next year’s report to see the economic windfall from last Friday’s Geelong After Dark event, but it appears organisers missed a big opportunity to maximise attendees at this year’s festival.

The annual event, traditionally held in May, fell on the same night as the Geelong Cats’ only Friday night game at GMHBA Stadium this season.

Anybody who has ever hosted an event in Geelong knows how difficult it is to compete with a Cats home game and it is surprising the city didn’t choose a different weekend to stage this great community event, especially given the football fixture has been known since October.

Perhaps next year’s event can be staged in warmer months outside the football season to ensure the whole community is given the chance to enjoy this great event.