Sports Tourism makes a big impact in Maryland
Posted on: April 15 2019
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Sports tourism is a booming industry that continually brings in astounding revenue. Harford County, in Maryland, is a prime example of this revenue impact. In Harford County, sports tourism brought in nearly $50 million and supported 650 jobs, each year over the past three years. According to The Baltimore Sun, this revenue came in from three sports- youth baseball, lacrosse, and soccer tournaments- at three different venues.
Due to this steep incline in revenue, the Maryland Office of Tourism, did a study to see the true impact of tourism on the county overall. The study showed that Harford County gained $374 million in total or more than $1 million a day. With sports tourism bringing in $50 million, the county owes a lot to the sports industry for the more revenue.
According to the study, baseball averaged the most events per year with 39, and the most participants, 20,600. That brought nearly 55,000 spectators to the county’s Ripken Stadium. Lacrosse made a big impact as well with 15 tournaments drawing on average 33,300 players and 76,100 spectators. Harford County became a hot spot for soccer tournaments in 2018. The county tripled the number of tournaments held at their soccer fields to six, attracting 9,000 players and 18,900 spectrators, according to the study.
The Harford County Executive, Barry Glassman, is giving this face recognition in his recommended budget for the 2020 fiscal year. He says it will include a budget to improve and expand tourism in Harford.
Read full article from Baltimore Sun.