The 2006-07 3 mobile Ashes Test Series and Commonwealth Bank One-day International Series generated $317 million for the Australian economy and created 793 jobs, according to the URS Economic Impact Study (EIS) released today by Tourism Minister Fran Bailey and Cricket Australia.
Other key findings of the EIS showed the 2006-07 3 mobile Ashes Series:
· sold more than 813,000 tickets with ticket sales of $18.7 million;
· helped to attract 37,000 international tourists, of whom 64% came specifically for the Ashes; and of these
· each international tourist spent nearly $10,500 and stayed for roughly 30 days.
"Cricket is simply marvellous for jobs and tourism. Our boys not only did a fabulous job in winning back the Ashes, but helped to create hundreds of new jobs and attract thousands of tourists to our shores," Fran Bailey said.
"The 2006-07 summer of cricket provided a huge boost for the Australian economy and shows cricket is good for business in this country,” Cricket Australia Chief Executive Officer, James Sutherland said.
“The EIS gives Cricket Australia the opportunity to better understand the impact cricket has on the Australian community and state economies across the country. It will provide Cricket Australia with information to help deliver the game of cricket more effectively and efficiently to the cricketing public."
Brand tracking by Tourism Australia in the United Kingdom reported 81% of British consumers had heard about the Ashes, with two thirds of these open to long haul travel.
The next step is to boost the economic benefits offered by future cricket events, with India and Sri Lanka touring Australia during the 2007-08 summer.
"Cricket provides one of Australia's strongest links with India, and through our new tourism office in Mumbai and our partnership with Cricket Australia, we intend to bowl in a tourism bonanza this coming summer," Fran Bailey said.
Tickets for the upcoming international summer of cricket, including the 3 mobile Test Series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, will go on sale to Australian Cricket Family members on 2nd July 2007 with general public tickets on sale from 1st August.
Copies of the EIS can be found on the Tourism Australia and Cricket Australia websites: http://www.tourism.australia.com or www.cricket.com.au. The economic modelling process used in this study was the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. The CGE model takes into account all substitution effects and impacts on prices and wages.
