Projected Economic and Financial Benefits of the 2017 Summer Universiade Games.

In Western society, sport economic impact studies are often utilized to showcase the financial benefits for hosting mega sport event or to justify the spending for entering bids or covering infrastructure construction costs. This study projected economic impact of the 2017 Summer Universiade by examining the Taiwanese (the hosting country) residents’ willingness to attendance and estimated individual spending (consumption) while attending the games. Through a series of convenience sampling surveys from February to April, 2017, 1,021 respondents (53.5% males and 45.3% females) reported their potential personal spending, willingness to attend the events, and preferred ticket price range. The results indicated that 61.5% of respondents expressed their willingness to purchase tickets. Projected cost for each individual potential game attendee was about $58 USDs. The ideal general event ticket price should be set around$13.5 USDs. The estimated total revenues based on one million game attendees’ (including local and non-local Taiwanese residents and foreign visitors) personal spending reached $67-million USDs. This revenue figure was projected to generate an economic impact of$154.1-million USDs. The researchers further compared the obtained figures with the finding of past sport economic impact studies and addressed the significance and rationale for selecting a modest impact multiplier for the calculation. Additional recommendations are offered in using impact study results to plan strategies for boosting tourism and winning bids for future events