2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials supported $12.7 M in Economic Activity for Saskatoon

Study by Sport Tourism Canada conducted in November 2021

Wednesday, April 20, 2022: (Ottawa, Ont.)  Saskatoon’s economy benefited from an injection of over $12.7 million in economic activity as a result of the successful hosting of the 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials. It was held November 20-28, 2021 at the SaskTel Centre. The Economic Impact Study, conducted by Sport Tourism Canada (STC), also indicated just over$14.0 million in economic impact for the province of Saskatchewan. 

The study was commissioned by Tourism Saskatoon with Sport Tourism Canada (STC) staff managing the survey process and onsite date collection. Surveyors were recruited from a University of Saskatchewan Business Club, trained and supervised by an STC Field Supervisor. The survey used was developed by STC specifically for this event. They collected data during the last four days of the nine-day event in a variety of ways:

• Surveyors intercepting spectators onsite for interviews;
• Respondents completing surveys at self-serve kiosks in the venue;
• Respondents completing at their leisure via a provided QR code.

Almost 1,000 valid responses were collected during the event, which drew over 10,000 out-of-town visitors. Data gathered included age, place of residence, and days attended, while out-of-town respondents answered questions about their length of stay, money spent in various categories and the importance of this event in deciding to travel to Saskatoon. The average spectator spent 5.3 days at the event and attended an average of 11.8 draws.

Once the data was collected, STC used the STEAMPRO economic impact assessment modelto analyze  the visitor data gathered by the survey responses. The combined spending from out-of-town visitors, participants, media, and VIPs was then added to the capital and event operational expenditures to produce an overall determination of the expenditures associated with the event. When all of this data and information was combined, STC produced a detailed report with the economic impact assessment in terms of total output, GDP, jobs, employment and taxes.  

“To host the Tim Hortons Curling Trials in Saskatoon was a breath of life into our visitor economy,” said Stephanie Clovechok, CEO, Tourism Saskatoon. “In the continued constraint of the global pandemic, it was obvious that along with the much needed $12.7 million dollars being injected into our economy, the vibrancy of sport enlivened our local community and allowed us to safely welcome visitors back again. The sentiment of over 96% of people saying they would recommend Saskatoon to others, and nearly 90% indicating they would visit Saskatoon again demonstrates the ripple effect that sport event hosting can have in a community.”

 Summary of Key Findings: 

• $10.3 million of initial expenditures
• $14 million overall economic activity in the province
• 10,443 out-of-town visitors
• $8.7 million of visitor spending
• $3.9 million wages and salaries supported locally
• 97 local jobs supported by the event
• $7.1 million boost to provincial GDP
• $3.0 million taxes supported across Canada

This event was the significant factor in people choosing to visit Saskatoon, rating it a 9.1 out of 10 as a rationale.

About STEAMPRO
This economic impact model was developed by STC in partnership with the Canadian Tourism Research Institute (CTRI) at The Conference Board of Canada. The CTRI serves the travel and tourism industry in providing sound economic forecasts and models with timely and insightful interpretation of data specifically relevant to travel. The model makes use of the most current and detailed input-output tables and multipliers available from Statistics Canada and leverages the credibility and robustness of sector specific tax data available from Statistics Canada’s Government Revenues Attributable to Tourism (GRAT) report.  

The STEAMPRO model been used since 2002 on over 300 EI assessments from small-town events to major multi-sport and international games and contains 100% Canadian data to directly reflect what took place at the specific event in the specific Canadian host community. It is considered the ‘gold standard’ in the field of economic impact assessment, providing credible and Canadian economic impact results. 

About Sport Tourism Canada (STC) 
Sport Tourism Canada is a non-governmental, member-based, capacity-building organization that promotes sport tourism as a grassroots economic development initiative at the community level. STC services over 500 members across Canada, including 130 municipalities, 300 national and provincial sport, multi-sport and major games organizations and a variety of other sport and tourism industry partners. Sport tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry in Canada with over $7.4billion in annual spending by domestic and international visitors and is central to local and regional economic recovery from COVID-19. 

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