Direct Economic Impact

Direct Economic Impact

The key elements of economic impact are Visitor Spend and Organiser Spend. Visitor Spend refers to additional expenditure within a defined geographical area from event-related visitors such as spectators and attendees. For most events, Visitor Spend forms the major component of economic impact. However, the Organiser Spend in staging an event can also generate additional expenditure in the host economy. Collectively, visitor and organiser spending in the host economy that is directly attributable to the staging of an event can be termed Direct Economic Impact.

Direct Economic Impact measures what is sometimes called the ‘first round’ of spending. In basic terms, this means direct transactions between those outside the host economy and those inside the host economy – for example between a visitor and the owner of a local restaurant. 

The basic measures found below are both relatively simple to capture and give a broad indication of the potential scale of an event’s economic impact. The intermediate measures button provides some further information on determining the Direct Economic Impact of an event using Visitor Spend and Organiser Spend.