HAWAII-PACIFIC TENNIS FOUNDATION

Events & News

Economic Impact of Professional Tennis in Hawaii

Especially with the downturn of Hawaii tourism since September 11, many have inquired just what is the economic impact in bringing special tennis events to Hawaii. These questions carry particular relevance today, given the push to complete the Waiola Tennis Complex in Honolulu.

Total Eclipse President Eric Kutner, promoter of the Challenger and WTA events on the Big Island reports that each Big Island event has generated about 1,500 attendees. If Oahu drew proportionately more according to its 850,000 population base (Big Island population estimated at 136,000), a Waiola event of the same magnitude should draw between 9,000 and 10,000 spectators. This is VERY a conservative figure, as the new Honolulu facility could conduct night sessions during the week, thus opening up any event to those adults who work during the week as well as active students. 

Moving our Men's events from the Challenger level up to pull in an ATP event should draw dramatically larger crowds. ATP standards look for a minimum attendance of 17,000 for an entire event. Last year, only one event on the ATP calendar failed to meet the minimum and that event took place in Croatia. Little doubt but that Honolulu could surpass the minimum at the new facility. 

Recently, the Foundation asked an economist to analyze the economic impact on the Oahu economy of an ATP event with 17,000 attendance. He suggests a positive impact of almost 3.7 million dollars! 

A Davis Cup tie, with an estimate of 15,000 attendees, produces an impact of almost 2.8 million. Furthermore, if Honolulu could attract an ITF World Championship, a large scale participatory event, the economic impact comes in a range from 2.8 to 5.6 million, depending on the number of participants. In this regard, the ITF World Championships would produce between 450 and 900 athletes for approximately a two week period. This produces 6,300 and 12,600 visitor nights for our hotel industry!