Orienteering injects £2 million into local economy

Dec 4 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A MAJOR fixture on the international orienteering calendar generated £2 million for the local area this summer, according to an independent economic impact survey.

Tay 2009, the 17th Scottish 6 Day Orienteering Festival, took place from August 2-8.

And over 4000 orienteers and their families from Scotland, the UK and overseas took part.

The event, which takes place every two years in a different part of Scotland, was centred this year on Perth Racecourse.

Competition took place at locations throughout Tayside, from the slopes of Schiehallion in the north to the coastal sand dunes of Tentsmuir in the south.

The economic impact survey, by Glasgow-based EKOS, has shown that this summer's event generated net additional expenditure of £2 million at the Perth and Kinross/Fife/Angus level and £2.5 million at a Scottish level.

The event attracted a total of 4,316 visitors and for most of the visitors (excluding local residents) the event was the only reason for visiting the Perth and Kinross/Fife/Angus area.

Nearly all the competitors spent at least one night away from home whilst attending the event and many booked accommodation for the whole week.

Nearly all the competitors rated the event highly in terms of overall quality and also rated highly the quality of their visit to Perth and Kinross and Scotland.

Overall, a high number of visitors said they would be very likely or likely to attend the next Scottish 6 Days, which will take place in the Oban area in 2011.

Paul Bush, chief operating officer at EventScotland, the national events agency, said: “Tay 2009 has generated a massive economic boost to the regions of Perth and Kinross, Fife and Angus with thousands of orienteering competitors and their families coming to Scotland to spend time competing and enjoying the area.

“As a six-day long orienteering competition and a world ranking event, Tay 2009 brings a high volume of serious orienteering competitors to Scotland biennially and, as such, brings substantial tourism benefits to the region.’’