Last year’s Open golf championship in St Andrews was worth a staggering £40 million to Fife’s economy, a new study has revealed.
Meanwhile, 363 million television viewers watched the event as footage was beamed to a global audience by 43 broadcasters.
The value of the television exposure for Scotland is thought to be worth more than £52 million.
The statistics are contained in a report set to go before members of Fife Council’s environment, enterprise and transportation committee on Thursday.
Keith Winter, the local authority’s head of enterprise, wrote the report.
“Total admissions for the Open Championships at St Andrews in July 2010 were recorded at 201,000,” he said. “The total economic impact on the local and Scottish economies has been calculated at £40 million and £47 million respectively.”
Mr Winter notes that, despite the global economic downturn, both figures are substantially higher than those recorded when the Open was last staged at St Andrews in 2005.
Apart from the “direct” spending, longer-term benefits are likely to come courtesy of worldwide media coverage.
“The Open was broadcast globally for more than 3000 hours by 43 broadcasters via 86 channels and to 363 million viewers,” Mr Winter said.
“The extensive coverage helped to showcase Scotland and St Andrews as a tourism destination in overseas markets.
“According to media evaluation, exposure of brands and vignettes related to Scotland generated more than 282 hours of time on screen, which is valued at £52.6 million (compared to £40.1 million in 2005).
“Around one in five visitors to the Open from outside Scotland expressed their intention to return to Scotland in 2013 for the championships at Muirfield.
“Moreover, for two out of three spectators from outside the UK, 2010 was their first visit to the Open, which helps to illustrate the appeal of St Andrews as a visitor destination.”
Over 5000 pieces of promotional literature were distributed to visitors, encouraging them to come to Fife. In addition nearly 650 people opted in to being informed about attractions in the region on a regular basis.
Not surprisingly, Mr Winter is looking forward to the event returning to St Andrews in the future.
“The Open is an iconic tournament in world golf,” he said. “It makes a major contribution to the economy at a local and national level and has a positive, intangible impact on civic pride.
“As the worldwide home of golf, Fife was proud to host the Open’s 150th anniversary in July 2010 and it is anticipated that the Open will return to St Andrews in the future.
“The economic return of the championship is showing growth since 2005, despite the economic downturn,” he added.
“This indicates that high level events still attract high numbers of visitors, even when tourism as a whole is slowing down.”
Mr Winter said “collaborative working” in the future would help to net the largest possible economic gain when the Open returns to Fife in future years.