Hosting youth sports tournaments is having an enormous positive impact on the local Orillia Econony.
A report prepared for Orillia council shows that last year the Citys Parks and Recreation Department hosted 11 different tournaments with a total of 235 teams taking part.
Paul Barnetson is the Manager of Recreation Services and says a total of 206 teams or 88 per cent came from outside the Orillia area and 77 per cent of those teams stayed in the city at least one night.
He says the economic impact report shows that accounted for more than 3500 room nights at various hotels.
Barnetson says the tournaments brought approximately 11,650 visitors to the City and 77 per cent of those stayed for at least one night , with the vast majority staying for two or more nights.
The direct economic impact on the city by these tournament visitors works out to just over 2 million dollars for 2010 with 28 per cent of that being spent on accomidation and 29 per cent on food.
Barnetson says last year the tournament program supported approximately 45 full time jobs in the city which paid out just over 1.3 million dollars in wages.
He says their study shows that each team that travels to Orillia for a weekend tournament spends more than 7,700 dollars in the area, which in turn generates almost 25 thosuand dollars in additional economic activity.
