School games give Tauranga economy $1.5m kick

Luke McClymont gets his kick away for Otumoetai Intermediate in a rugby league clash with Howick Intermediate at this year's games. Photo / File

Tauranga's AIMS Games pumped more than $1.5 million into the city's economy and local business leaders are heralding the event as having become too important to lose.

September's NZCT AIMS Games, a Tauranga City Council flagship event, generated 37,500 visitor nights, and contributed $1.52 million to Western Bay of Plenty's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) - a 607 per cent return on regional investment.

The games, a premier sporting event for 11, 12 and 13 year olds, is a strategic partnership between Sport Bay of Plenty, Tauranga City Council and the four Western Bay of Plenty intermediate schools.

This year's games involved more athletes than the Commonwealth Games and attracted 13,800 people - 68 per cent of whom were visitors to the western Bay of Plenty.

The athletes were from 228 schools, competing in 17 different sports.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dave Burnett said the boom was "just awesome news".

"It just really shows you what economic return there is in an event like this. For the restaurants, the supermarkets, local businesses, it's just immense - and then to go on for a week, it's brilliant."

Mr Burnett referred to the 13,800 people involved, including the amount of Western Bay visitors.

"What's really important is that number and the ongoing effects from that in terms of summer holidays, Easter breaks, etc, and that they might return. That's quite a big figure."

Mr Burnett said the figures highlighted how important the event was to the economy.

"We would never want to lose this event. It's too important to the local economy."

The council contributed $30,000 to the games and commissioned an economic evaluation of the event to look at the financial costs and benefits on the region.

A total of 9400 visitors contributed to 37,500 visitor nights during their stay, with each visitor staying an average of four nights.

Visitors spent $1.96 million on goods and services including accommodation, food and beverage, transport, retail shopping, attractions and entertainment. The event injected an additional $390,000 into the regional economy over and above the cost to organise the event.

Tauranga City Mayor Stuart Crosby, who officially opened the 2014 event at the ASB Arena, said the games had become a major event for the city.

Mr Crosby echoed Mr Burnett's comment that the games had a positive impact for local tourism, accommodation and local businesses and helped showcase 15 local venues and facilities including ASB Arena and McLaren Falls Park.

"In addition to the direct economic spin-offs from hosting major events - accommodation, food and beverage, transport, retail shopping, attractions and entertainment - they add to the vibrancy of our city and help support future growth and prosperity," he said.

Sailing is expected to be included in next year's event, increasing the number of sports hosted to 18.